Autumn leaves

 

It's epicraptor again and I'm going to be talking about plants, again. Today we are learning about autumn leaves. Do you wonder why leaves change color in the autumn time. Some people say it is because the temperature gets colder. That is untrue.

Leaves turn orange, yellow and brown because of carotenoids. Carotenoids can be in vegetables and fruits as well. some examples of this are carrots are orange and corn is yellow.

 

Leaves turn red because of anthoycians. Anthoycians produce the color red purple and pink. Some examples are apples are red and eggplant and berries are purple.

Carotenoids and anthoycians were always there but were concealed by the chlorophyll which is what makes leaves green and produce food for the plant. The reason they are green is because the chlorophyll reflects and absorbs green light. In the fall when there is less sunlight the tree stops making chlorophyll and it wears away exposing the carotenoids and anthoycians. Soon the leaves fall off the tree just before winter and decompose. Some trees like pine trees do not lose there leaves since they are adapted to the winter.

Here are some links.

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html

http://www.esf.edu/pubprog/brochure/leaves/leaves.htm