PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Food for plants

They use the sunlight and the green in their leaves to make sugars from carbon dioxide (which they breathe in through their leaves during the day) and water. This sugar is then used to give the plant energy so that it can grow. This process is called photosynthesis and is the most important process on the planet, as many other plants and animals depend on plants to survive. Most of the energy is used to make new plant material, although some of it is stored by the plant for use during the months when there is less sunlight.

 

A breath of fresh air

During the night, plants breathe in oxygen. This is called respiration. The plant also needs minerals to grow, which the plant takes from the soil where they are dissolved in water. The plant releases any water that it doesn't need into the air through its leaves. This is called transpiration.

Plants are the only living organisms that can make their own food. This is one of the main ways of deciding if something is a plant.

If plants could not turn the sun's energy into food, we would all die. That is because we can eat all sorts of things plants grow, such as leaves, seeds, fruits, roots, nuts and flowers. But we can't eat sunshine! Text

Light is so important to plants, that their leaves grow in many patterns so as to catch the most light.