Where does the “mass” come from when potted plants grow?

Question

It’s easy conceptually to understand when animals eat physical food matter, it adds to their own body mass as they grow.

But potted plants grow 2x, 3x, etc their mass while the only (seemingly) inputs are Sun, water and occasional plant food. The soil level doesn’t seem to change much either, so where is the “material” coming from to make the plant bigger? Is it just from what I mentioned, and is there an easy way to understand how those things transforms to plant mass?

Edit: Thanks for all the answers! It unexpectedly helped me understand how plants capture carbon from the air and “store” it physically. I have a new appreciation for my houseplants 🪴

In: 8561

Answer 1

When you lose weight where does the weight go?

The three most common adipose tissues in human fat are:

C18H34O2, C16H32O2 and C55H104O6

If you notice, they are just carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. When you burn fat the carbon atoms leave your body via carbon dioxide. When you lose fat you are essentially breathing it out.