Nation World News Oxygen is one of the gases that are essential for humans. Plants are one of the biggest oxygen producers. How do plants produce oxygen? Here’s the explanation!
Plants can produce oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. As we know, photosynthesis makes sugar and oxygen using sunlight, water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
Plants depend on water and sunlight to produce oxygen. The process of photosynthesis that produces oxygen is carried out in the thylakoid membrane.
reported from scienceThe thylakoid membrane is the inner membrane of the chloroplast where the light reactions of photosynthesis take place.
Oxidation of water (H2O)
reported from encyclopedia britannicaThe oxygen (O2) produced by plants comes from water (H2O) which plants absorb from their environment.
It was first proposed by a biologist from the Netherlands named Cornelis van Niels and supported by other scientists.
Scientists used oxygen isotopes to prove it 
in water and observe the results of photosynthesis.
He later found that water containing oxygen isotopes (
) will produce the oxygen isotope (
) by photosynthesis.
The results of this experiment are evidence that oxygen is produced from water through the process of photosynthesis.
reported from National GeographicWater (H2O) in the thylakoid membrane is oxidized to lose electrons.
This causes water (H2O) to release its hydrogen ions and form oxygen (O2).
The resulting oxygen is then released into the air through the leaf stomata.
Scientists estimate that a single leaf of a plant can produce about five milliliters of oxygen per hour through the process of photosynthesis.
