Session 2: Plants and Sunlight

Key Idea

Plants have the ingredients (air and water), but they need power to cook them. This power comes from the sun.

Unlike animals, plants capture solar energy using their leaves. Think of sunlight not as food, but as the electricity that powers a factory. Without this energy, the plant's factory would shut down, and it could not make the food it needs to survive.

Key Idea

Inside the leaves, a special change happens. The plant uses the captured energy from sunlight to transform carbon dioxide and water into a type of sugar.

This sugar is the plant's food. During this process, the energy from the sun gets "locked" inside the sugar molecules. This means the plant has successfully converted light energy into chemical energy stored in food.

Key Idea

Once the plant makes this sugar, it uses it for two purposes. First, some sugar is broken down to release energy, acting as fuel for the plant’s daily activities.

Second, the rest of the sugar is used as building blocks. The plant uses these molecules to construct new leaves and grow taller. This process results in growth, allowing the plant to become a larger organism over time.