we already know how photosynthesis is done ; so why cant we creat “artificial plants” that take CO2 and gives O2 and energy in exchange?
In: Biology
We can create “artificial” photosynthesis using tanks of genetically engineered algae. But as a way to produce oxygen it’s pretty slow and energy inefficient. Much quicker and more energy efficient to use electrolysis of sea water. This is how submarines produce oxygen, for example.
An often overlooked fact is that trees don’t actually produce the vast majority of the oxygen we need to breathe. In fact we could chop down every tree on the planet, but oceanic algae would continue to produce enough oxygen to sustain us.
But if we want to reduce atomospheric CO2, we need the carbon to be taken up and *stored,* not just recycled. The best way to do that is, simply, more trees.
If we were to plant 1 – 1.2 trillion trees on the planet, that would capture enough carbon to return atmospheric CO2 to pre-industrial levels.
Why do we need artificial plants when we have regular plants?
I think a better question would be we know how to make hard things that aren’t wood…. why can’t we stop cutting down trees.
What about just taking care of nature?
What would the benefit be of this over actual plants?
Why don’t we just use…real plants? ELI5 for me plz
They’re working on it. But the way it happens in plants is that an entire organism revolves around the process and keeps up with the needs until it can’t anymore and dies. And a lot of that is done on a microscopic scale with a pretty small energy excess which the plant uses to grow. From an engineering standpoint it’s more valid to take lessons from plants then to try to reinvent them. They can teach us a lot about optimal use of light energy.
Because people can’t even spell the word create, much less create something like that. so sorry couldn’t resist. Honestly interested in the question though.
It’s about theoretical versus actual versus production. Take for instance batteries. Yes we have batteries with layers as thin as one micron. Yes we can make them actually. Can you mass produce it, and make it cheaper than the alternatives? Probably not. Tesla had same philosophy.. it’s easy to make a model car, not easy to mass produce them.
I’m interested in why the OP thinks we need artificial plants to this rather than just regular plants. What would artificial plants provide that regular plants would not?
Are there any instances where our technological mimicry of biological systems ends up being superior?
Can you imagine the tech it would take to create a seed that you could just toss out your front door into the dirt and a week later there would be a plant there sucking in C02, capturing that sunlight, and spitting out 02?
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