Why are leaves green?

Have you ever wondered why leaves and trees are green and people aren’t? Why don’t leaves just stay green when we pick them off the tree? Clearly, an amazing thing is happening inside leaves.

Like all living things, plants are made up of tiny cells. There are tens of thousands of cells in each leaf! Plant cells have special “food factories” inside them that are called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts use the energy from sunlight, plant food, carbon dioxide and water to make energy for the plant. Chlorophyll is the color pigment that absorbs the sunlight for the plant. Without sunlight, water and plant food, the leaves can’t make any chlorophyll or food energy so they turn brown. The leaf in the sun inside the water glass should have stayed green for the longest but without plant food from the ground, it can’t stay green forever. The leaf in the dark should turn brown the fastest.