Nocturnal Plants

[MrMistery]

If there is a larger quantity of oxygen in the room then outside then the 2 environments will tend to reach a balance, this resulting in the departure of the excess oxygen from the room. So, in the case there is a window open, plants don't bring anything, but they do take something away(oxygen that is)

[thank.darwin]

They may take away small amounts of oxygen... so if you locked yourself in a room with a jungle of plants then you might die... In the end, Plants wouldn't change the oxygen level in your room (Not on noticable levels). Yes oxygen might leave the room but it would balence out between the room and the other environment - The outdoors... so your room will have the same oxygen levels as the air outside your house... and the levels of oxygen outside your house are able to sustain life... or at least the last time I checked it did!

[MrMistery]

Yes, but this balance would take place during the day. Most people i know do not keep windows open at night. And it is at night when plants consume oxygen in the room. Of course, if you have one or two plants in your room there is no danger. The real danger, as thank.darwin pointed out, comes when you have a lot of them(a jungle)

[wheelgunner]

Hello,

Since plants secrete carbon dioxide at night and obsorve oxygen, how harmful is it to keep a plant in my room?

Edher

Hello,

I am new to this site. I am not a bio - anything, I am an engine mechanic. I do not know formulas for plants...

However, there is an interesting book by BC Wwolverton called "How to grow Fresh Air" I found it very Eye opening. It summerises 25 years of resaearch by NASA, how NASA uses plants in the Space station and plants that clean air inside buildings. Lists some of the plants and which chemicals they consume such as formaldhyde (sp?), alcohol, benzyne, etc...

It also lists some plants that actually give off oxygen at night. One is the Aloe plant. I think the other one is "mother in laws tongue" but I am not sure. I wanted to look it up but I loaned two of my copies out and have not gotten them back.

The book has helped many of my friends that are sensitive to indoor air quality.

Kaiser hospital now contracts out to have all of their plants taken care of. I you are a member of Kaiser, next time you visit look at all of the plants. They are there to remove specific indoor air toxins. They may be pretty but they are there for a reason.

The book lists about 50 indoor plants by scientific name, common name, environment, sunlight and the toxins removed.

Good luck!

Dan

Amazon Books

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 5?v=glance

[MrMistery]

The aloe plant, like all other CAM plants absorb CO2 during the night. So it is true that they excrete CO2 on one hand(cellular respiration) but they take it in through the first part of their fotosynthetic cycle. But these plants are adapted to high temperatures so the tactic would work only if you have high temp in your room

[awarrumbungle]

The perfect answer to a question that stumped me.

I teach english in Thailand and have heard a few times about this CO2 released at night. At first I thought they were wrong (I'd forgotten from my school days) but they insisted. They also told me I would die if I had trees in my rooms at night and that sleeping under trees is not good too. They said their science teachers told them this. Thanks for clearing this up. Hopefully I can brnig a little balance back into the classroom (the english language classroom that is)

[awarrumbungle]

Can anyone tell me the ratio of CO2 output at night to CO2 abosrtpion during the day?

[canalon]

The perfect answer to a question that stumped me.

I teach english in Thailand and have heard a few times about this CO2 released at night. At first I thought they were wrong (I'd forgotten from my school days) but they insisted. They also told me I would die if I had trees in my rooms at night and that sleeping under trees is not good too. They said their science teachers told them this. Thanks for clearing this up. Hopefully I can brnig a little balance back into the classroom (the english language classroom that is)

Well it is grossly exagerated, plants are not respirating that strongly. And your room is not that gas proof, at least, I hope for you. And I know it for sure for forest. Nobody would consier sleeping with a pet or with someone else a threat, isn't it? Well plants are probably releasing less CO2 than the average pet. So don't worry and you can go on sleeping in the middle of the forest.
A good illustration of the dangers of half understood science...

[MrMistery]

Actually patrick i read this(that it is dangerous to sleep with many plants in your room) in my science book... But then again, so many things in my books are wrong..

[canalon]

Actually patrick i read this(that it is dangerous to sleep with many plants in your room) in my science book... But then again, so many things in my books are wrong..

depends on huw much plants we are talking about and aeration. But think of how many people you can cram in a concert hall (take a rock concert with heavy smokers and bad ventilation, I"ve seen some like that ) for some hours without anyone dying. Now try to have the same respiration output with plant, and I think your bedroom is going to be very full. For me I would definitely call that a scientific myth, Think about it your girlfriend is probably much more dangerous than a tree, even more so if you have any physical activities, yet I haven't heard of any case of death related to suffocation in those conditions.