The Green Factory Inside Leaves

Plants may seem quiet and still, but inside their leaves an amazing chemical factory is always at work. Through a process called photosynthesis, plants make their own food using nothing more than sunlight, water, and air. The green colour of leaves comes from a substance called chlorophyll. This substance captures energy from the Sun, rather like a solar panel. At the same time, the roots pull water up from the soil, and tiny holes in the leaves absorb a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Using the captured sunlight, the plant combines these ingredients and turns them into sugar, which gives it energy to grow. As a by-product, the plant releases oxygen back into the air — the very gas that humans and animals need to breathe. This quiet process is one of the most important on Earth. Without photosynthesis, there would be almost no oxygen and very little food. In a real sense, nearly every living thing depends on the hidden work happening inside green leaves.