How do plants make their own food from sunlight?
Leaf's Secret Kitchen
How do plants make their own food from sunlight?
Picture a leaf on a quiet summer afternoon. It looks like it's doing absolutely nothing — just hanging there, soaking up sun. But that lazy-looking leaf is actually running one of the busiest kitchens on Earth. It's cooking its own lunch out of light. Let's sneak inside.
A plant can't go to the store, and it can't chase down a snack. So it makes its food right where it stands, out of three free ingredients: sunlight pouring from above, water sipped up through the roots, and a gas called carbon dioxide breathed in from the air. Light, water, air. That's the whole shopping list.
