Do plant produce carbon dioxide

Answer 1

Yes, for the most part, all life as we (humanity) understand it, produces carbon dioxide.

HOWEVER, Plants generally produce a NET NEGATIVE amount of carbon dioxide.

Animals breathe in Oxygen, use this to burn stored energy and perform work within the body, and in the process bond the oxygen to carbon producing carbon dioxide which is exhaled.

Plants do the same thing. they absorb oxygen, and use it in the process of burning energy to fuel growth, repair, produce fruit, etc.

The misconception is common that plants do not use oxygen and do not create carbon dioxide. This stems from the process of photosynthesis, wherein the plant absorbs carbon dioxide from its surrounding atmosphere, uses it in converting light energy to a form usable by the plant, and in so doing separates the carbon and oxygen atoms, 'breaking' the carbon dioxide. The oxygen is then released back into the environment,

In most plants, they consume more carbon dioxide and produce more oxygen than the reverse. As a result, the plant takes in more carbon dioxide than it expels, and as such 'effectively' (but not literally) producing no carbon dioxide.

Answer 2

No, they actually consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen, using energy from sunlight in a process called photosynthesis. The massive deforestation cause by mankind across the globe is the other edge of the global warming problem: not only are man's activities dumping a lot more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but we've also reduced the earth's ability to absorb that carbon dioxide by destroying forests. Old growth forests are among the most robust "carbon sinks" (eliminators of carbon dioxide in terms of how much carbon dioxide is removed per acre of forest, because the great heights of the trees mean they are, essentially, towers of carbon consumption whereas smaller plants, such as the grass on Golf courses or crops, do not remove as much carbon dioxide per acre. It can be thought of, flipping on the reverse, as an acre filled with people would produce carbon dioxide through exhalation, but a 100-story tower on a 1-acre sight would hold a lot more people and produce a lot more carbon dioxide.