What is photorespiration?

Photorespiration is when plants take in extra oxygen and let out some carbon dioxide, kind of like a little side job they do while breathing.

Imagine you're eating your favorite snack, but someone accidentally gives you a big breath of air instead of the snack. That's what happens to plants during photorespiration. They’re trying to make food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide, photosynthesis, if you want to call it by its full name, but sometimes they get confused and take in oxygen instead.

Think of a plant like someone baking cookies in the oven. Normally, they use sugar and heat to make delicious cookies. But if they accidentally open the oven door too much and let in cold air (which has oxygen), the cookies might not turn out as good, and some of the sugar might even escape as steam (carbon dioxide). That’s photorespiration: a little extra work for the plant, but it still happens all the time!