Do the CO$_2$ absorption by plants and emission by growing media obey Fick's law?

TL;DR

This high school project demonstrates that Sansevieria trifasciata absorbs CO2 during the night following Fick's law, while its growing medium's CO2 emission does not, providing an educational tool for studying plant respiration.

Contribution

It presents a simple experimental setup showing differential CO2 absorption and emission obeying or not obeying Fick's law, suitable for educational purposes.

Findings

Sansevieria absorbs CO2 during the night obeying Fick's law

Growing media CO2 emission does not obey Fick's law

The setup is useful for high school educational experiments

Abstract

A simple homemade greenhouse was constructed as a part of the high school project during the learning-from-home period. The greenhouse was used to show CO$_2$ absorption by Sansevieria trifasciata during the night, obeying Fick's law, while the CO$_2$ emission by the medium used to grow the plant does not. Although other plants can be used for this purpose, the use of Sansevieria is interesting and offers certain advantages because it absorbs CO$_2$ during the night. The project could also provide a simple tool for high school students to investigate the absorption and emission of CO$_2$ from home or in laboratory. Extension of this project to investigate the effect of plant respiration on the environmental parameters, such as decreasing temperature and increasing humidity, is also possible.