Eating Sunlight

Written by Studio AM.

Animals must find food to get energy, but green plants make their own. Inside their leaves are tiny green parts that capture sunlight. The plant uses that light energy to combine water from the soil with a gas called carbon dioxide from the air.

This process turns those simple ingredients into sugar, which feeds the plant and helps it grow. The process is called photosynthesis.

As a bonus, the plant releases oxygen, the gas that people and animals need to breathe. So when you stand near a leafy tree on a sunny day, the tree is quietly building food and freshening the air at the same time.

Questions

Choose an answer. The explanation appears after you answer.

  1. Question 1 of 4

    What is the main idea of this passage?

  2. Question 2 of 4

    According to the text, what gas do plants release during photosynthesis?

  3. Question 3 of 4

    In the passage, 'capture' most nearly means

  4. Question 4 of 4

    Based on the passage, what would most likely happen to a green plant kept in a dark room?

Score: none answered yet.

More passages

Practise reading