Students often ask about 'how much' wood or oxygen or carbon dioxide a tree can make. This depends on the species, age and place where a tree is growing but here are some numbers to think about...
Water
A large deciduous tree can use 300 - 900 gallons (4,000 litres) of water in a day when its hot and sunny.
1,000 kg of water = 1 kg of wood
A 100 foot deciduous tree: can take in 11,000 gallons of water from the soil (over one growing season) and release it into the air - the cooling effect is thought to be equivalent to air conditioning 12 rooms for that growing season!
Air
To grow 1lb of wood the tree uses 1.47 pounds of carbon dioxide and gives off 1.07 pounds of oxygen. But for every pound of wood that decays or burns the process reverses and 1.07 pounds of oxygen is consumed and 1.47 pounds of carbon dioxide is released.
One mature tree absorbs approximately 13 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. For every ton of wood a forest grows, it removes 1.47 tons of carbon dioxide and replaces it with 1.07 tons of oxygen.
Statistics from: A Tree for Every American by American Forest Council, Introducing Trees Pamela Hickman; Oregon Tree Farm System Web site; Datil Mountain Evegreen Co web site; McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 1992.