Video narration
How does a leaf use sunlight to make food? Inside the leaf, tiny structures contain chlorophyll, the green pigment that catches light. It absorbs mostly red and blue light, while more green bounces back to your eyes. That reflected green is why the leaf looks green. And the whole food-making story unfolds inside that same green, sunlit leaf. But catching light is only the start. In the leaf, that captured energy helps the plant combine water with carbon dioxide from the air, making sugar and releasing oxygen. The sugar stores energy the plant can use to grow and function. Here's the key: chlorophyll doesn't make food by itself. It captures the energy that powers photosynthesis-the process that makes sugar. A leaf uses sunlight because chlorophyll captures its energy, powering photosynthesis and helping the leaf make sugar.