ELI5: Why are plants green?

Imagine you have a box of crayons. You want to draw a superhero who gets energy from the sun! Which crayon colors would help him get the most energy?

Plants are like superheroes that get their energy from the sun. They use this energy to make their own food through a process called photosynthesis.

Now, plants have tiny little parts inside their leaves called chloroplasts. Think of them like tiny kitchens where the food is made. Inside these kitchens, there's a special ingredient called chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll is like a magic pigment. It's really good at soaking up certain colors of light from the sun, like blue and red. It's like the superhero wearing a special suit that collects those colors.

But here's the trick: chlorophyll doesn't like the green light. It bounces it back! It's like the superhero throwing away the green light because he doesn't need it.

That bounced-back green light is what we see. So, plants look green because they're reflecting away the green light that their chlorophyll doesn't want to use.

• Plants absorb blue and red light.
• They reflect green light.
• That reflected green light is why we see them as green.