Where did the 4,000 kg tree come from?
- Gurvinder Singh
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
A mature Banyan tree could easily weigh 4,000 kg. Where did all this mass come from?
Most of us believe it comes from the soil, water, or nutrients.
Let us look at the soil first. In 1648, a fascinating experiment was carried out by a Flemish scientist named Jan Baptist van Helmont.
He took a willow sapling weighing 140 gm and planted it in soil with a dry weight of 90 kgs. He watered it regularly for 5 years, and the plant grew to 76 kg, gaining 75.86 kgs in weight. He dried the soil, weighed it again and found its weight had reduced by only 56 grams. Obviously, the soil did not transfer its mass to the tree.
Next, let's look at water. A moderately sized Banyan tree can easily draw up 500 litres of water a day. Water is made up of two gases, hydrogen and oxygen. By a process called photosynthesis, the plant uses the sun's energy to break down water molecules to produce oxygen and hydrogen.
Oxygen is exhaled (given off) by leaves and becomes the oxygen we breathe. Hydrogen is processed and absorbed by the plant. Hydrogen is the lightest element, and we would need an enormous amount of it to gain even a small amount of mass, let alone 4,000 kgs.
An analysis of the dry weight of a tree reveals it is mostly carbon, a dense, heavy element (the fourth most common element on Earth) with nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, etc., constituting only 1 to 2% of the dry weight of the tree. So that rules out the possibility of nutrients giving the bulk of the mass of a tree.
The soil does not have that much carbon, and we now know it comes from the air. In a literal sense, the tree is composed of solidified air. Almost the entire physical mass comes from an invisible gas floating in the atmosphere - the stuff you exhale, 'carbon dioxide'. Carbon dioxide constitutes a mere 0.04% of the atmosphere. Photosynthesis breaks down CO2 gas into carbon and oxygen. They combine with the hydrogen to produce sugar.
The huge tree and its bark, stem, branches and roots, in a literal sense, are solidified air. Not only trees, but every living creature, including us humans, has a significant quantity of carbon. The bones, muscles, brain, etc. have a lot of carbon, carbon that was once atmospheric carbon dioxide. In chemistry, the term 'organic' means a compound that has carbon in it. In that sense, almost every living thing is organic because of carbon's ability to form long chains with other elements.
Millions of planets across our universe show a high presence of gold, silver, diamonds, etc., but the Earth is the only known planet to have wood. It is a unique privilege for us.
Now you tell me: "Is it not worth dedicating some part of our time and resources to preserve and grow forests, cultivate gardens and parks, or have a small garden?"
Written and Posted: 18 April 2026
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#carbon #carbondioxide #hydrogen #environment #food #forest #health #life #oxygen #photosynthesis #plant #tree
Ref: G1006
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