Video narration
Your houseplant is growing new leaves-where does most of that new material come from? You water it, and its roots take up minerals from the soil; sunlight reaches the leaves through the window. But the soil isn't where most of the plant's dry material comes from. Inside each leaf, light energy helps combine water with carbon dioxide, a gas the plant takes from the air around it. That process is photosynthesis: the leaf makes sugar and releases oxygen. Sunlight isn't food or plant material. It powers the leaf's work. Carbon from the air becomes part of the sugar, and that sugar helps build new growth. Water contributes too, while soil supplies minerals the plant needs. Mostly from carbon dioxide in the air. Its leaves use light energy and water to make sugars that build new growth.