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Hi! I am Studyfin, your science tutor. Today we will explore how plants use sunlight to make their own food!
Plants are amazing living things. They cannot walk to a store to buy food, so they must make it themselves.
This special process is called photosynthesis. Plants take in water from the soil and carbon dioxide gas from the air.
Inside the leaves, green parts called chloroplasts catch sunlight. They use this light energy to turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen.
Finally, the plant releases oxygen back into the air for us to breathe. The plant keeps the sugar to grow big and strong.
✏️ Worked example
Let us trace the path of a water molecule during photosynthesis to see how it helps a plant.
- First, the plant roots absorb water from the damp soil underground.
- Next, the water travels up through tiny tubes in the stem to reach the green leaves.
- Then, sunlight shines on the leaf and gets trapped by green chloroplasts.
- After that, the plant uses the sun's energy to split the water molecule apart.
- Finally, the hydrogen from the water is used to make sweet sugar food, while the oxygen is released into the air.
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