Video narration
So where does a plant's food actually come from-the soil, or somewhere else? When you make a meal, you combine ingredients. A green plant does something similar, using light, water, and carbon dioxide as raw materials. Soil supplies minerals, but not the sugar the plant makes. Water rises from the roots, while carbon dioxide enters through tiny openings in the leaf. Chlorophyll, the green light-catching substance, captures light. Here's the turn: the plant is not eating sunlight. Light supplies the energy to combine water and carbon dioxide into glucose-the plant's usable food, which it can use or store. Oxygen is released into the air, including the air you breathe. So, the plant's meal does not come from the soil. Through photosynthesis, it makes glucose from water and carbon dioxide, powered by sunlight, and releases oxygen along the way.