So we know that plants make their own food through photosynthesis.
But how does a plant get together the ingredients it needs for this: sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, and then combine them to create glucose and oxygen?
Well, that's what leaves are for!
A leaf is like a plant's food factory — and its parts work together to get the reactants into one place so that photosynthesis can happen.
Let's start with sunlight: Have a look at a leaf.
The top of it is exposed to the most light — so the cells specialized for trapping light are on top.
These cells are called palisade mesophyll and they're packed full of chlorophyll, the green chemical that plants use to absorb light.
That's why the top side of the leaf is darker than the bottom side.
You should also note that most leaves have a large surface area so they can trap as much sunlight as possible.
What else do we need for photosynthesis?
