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Aristotle was a Greek scientist who thought that plants ate soil and sucked it up through their roots. Most people believed this until the 17th century. In the 17th century, a scientist called Jan van Helmont tested Aristotle's theory. He measured the masses of a small tree and some soil in a pot. He planted the tree and watered it for 5 years In van Helmont's experiment the mass of the soil did not go down much (0.06kgs/ 0.132lbs) but the mass of the tree went up a lot (74.47kg/163.834lbs). This showed that Aristotle's theory was wrong. Van Helmont suggested that the tree got all of its food from water. In 1782, Jean Senebier showed that plants need carbon dioxide gas from the air and suggested that plants only use this gas to make food. In 1804, Nicholas de Saussure did van Helmont's experiment again, but he carefully measured the amounts of carbon dioxide and water he gave to the plant. He showed that both carbon dioxide and water are needed.

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