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Where Do Trees Get Their Mass?

Veritasium · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Scientific method & science communicationBiology & biotechnologyEveryday physics & science demos

What it is

Veritasium asks people where a tree's mass comes from, then explains that most of a dry tree's mass originates from carbon dioxide in the air. It combines street interviews with a short explanation of photosynthesis.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN uses it as the go-to demonstration of how unintuitive mass conservation is, especially in weight loss and burning threads.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2015, last 2021

What HN commenters said

  1. “This was highly enlightening the first time I watched it :)”

    Highly enlightening video on tree mass.

    lathiat, 2021-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Where does a candle go when it burns?”

  2. “There's a nice Veritasium episode wherein he asks people on the street where a tree's mass comes from”

    Street interviews on where tree mass comes from, as a learning exercise.

    lkbm, 2015-04 · Recommendation · in “When You Lose Weight, Where Does It Go?”

  3. “Veritasium has a fun video demonstrating how unintuitive this is”

    Fun demonstration of how unintuitive tree mass is.

    JshWright, 2017-11 · Recommendation · in “When somebody loses weight, where does the fat go?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: trees, photosynthesis, carbon dioxide, misconceptions, science education

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