Video narration
How can a plant make its own food without eating? Think of each leaf as a tiny kitchen. It gathers ingredients from two places and uses light as its energy. Water travels up from the roots, while carbon dioxide from the air enters through the leaf. Light powers the cooking. Here's the key: the plant is not eating sunlight. Its leaves use light to turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar. That sugar is the plant's food-fuel for energy and material for growth. And, as this kitchen works, it releases oxygen into the air. So sunlight is not food itself; it is the power that lets the leaf make food. That whole process is called photosynthesis: how green plants use light, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar and release oxygen. So how does a plant eat without eating? Its leaves cook their own food.