Science ยท Lesson 4
How plants make food
Photosynthesis in five minutes: what goes in, what comes out.
What a leaf needs
Three ingredients
- Sunlight, caught by the green pigment chlorophyll
- Water, pulled up from the roots
- Carbon dioxide, taken in from the air
Who does which job?
Chlorophyll
Stomata
Roots
Catches the sunlight
Tiny pores that let air in and out
Take up water from the soil
Put the steps in order
- Light reaches the leaf
- Chlorophyll captures its energy
- Water and carbon dioxide are turned into sugar
- Oxygen is released into the air
In and out
Goes in
- Light energy
- Water
- Carbon dioxide
Comes out
- Sugar, the plant's food
- Oxygen, for us to breathe
Check yourself
Which two does a leaf take in?
- Water
- Oxygen
- Carbon dioxide
- Sugar
Water and carbon dioxide go in. Oxygen and sugar are what the leaf makes.
Leaves are little kitchens
Next lesson: why leaves change color in autumn.