Trees are not completely green, only their leaves are. The cells within leaves contain a specialised organelle, or cell component, called a chloroplast that contains a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is coloured as it absorbs high energy light from our sun and uses this energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars that the plant can use for food or store for later use and growth. he light from our sun is made up of a spectrum of colours, which we can split into red, green and blue. Chlorophyll absorbs light most strongly in the blue part of white light, followed by the red part. However, it is a poor absorber of green and near-green parts of white light, therefore it reflects green and thats why we see the leaves as green. This is the basis of the food chain for most life on earth – you are eating concentrated sunlight for breakfast!
As the tree wants to be as high as possible to compete with the other plants around it develops a trunk which it grows to get higher and higher so it can spread out its leaves and capture as much sunlight as possible. The trunk is not green as the tree does not use it to produce energy, but uses it to contain the xylem and phloem which transports water and nutrients from the ground up to its energy producing leaves. The bark is therefore thick and ‘woody’ to protect the trees vascular system, which is similar to our veins and arteries. The bark of the tree can therefore be all sorts of beautiful colours such as brown, red, white and so on.
Hi Warren, trees appear green to us because the chlorophyll (green pigments which play an important role in photosynthesis) absorbs pretty much all the spectrum of light except green and therefore the trees appear green in colour.
You may see some trees which have yellow/orange or red/purple leaves. It is because as the available sunlight decreases in autumn, the chlorophyll that used to be the most abundant during summer starts degrading (the synthesis of chlorophyll requires sunlight and warm temperature). When chlorophyll degrades, the other pigments in the leaves become unmasked. If a tree has caretenoid pigments the leaves look yellow/orange. There are also anthocyanin pigments which are produced in autumn and they give purple/red colour to leaves.
Trees are not completely green, only their leaves are. The cells within leaves contain a specialised organelle, or cell component, called a chloroplast that contains a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is coloured as it absorbs high energy light from our sun and uses this energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars that the plant can use for food or store for later use and growth. he light from our sun is made up of a spectrum of colours, which we can split into red, green and blue. Chlorophyll absorbs light most strongly in the blue part of white light, followed by the red part. However, it is a poor absorber of green and near-green parts of white light, therefore it reflects green and thats why we see the leaves as green. This is the basis of the food chain for most life on earth – you are eating concentrated sunlight for breakfast!
As the tree wants to be as high as possible to compete with the other plants around it develops a trunk which it grows to get higher and higher so it can spread out its leaves and capture as much sunlight as possible. The trunk is not green as the tree does not use it to produce energy, but uses it to contain the xylem and phloem which transports water and nutrients from the ground up to its energy producing leaves. The bark is therefore thick and ‘woody’ to protect the trees vascular system, which is similar to our veins and arteries. The bark of the tree can therefore be all sorts of beautiful colours such as brown, red, white and so on.
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Hi Warren, trees appear green to us because the chlorophyll (green pigments which play an important role in photosynthesis) absorbs pretty much all the spectrum of light except green and therefore the trees appear green in colour.
You may see some trees which have yellow/orange or red/purple leaves. It is because as the available sunlight decreases in autumn, the chlorophyll that used to be the most abundant during summer starts degrading (the synthesis of chlorophyll requires sunlight and warm temperature). When chlorophyll degrades, the other pigments in the leaves become unmasked. If a tree has caretenoid pigments the leaves look yellow/orange. There are also anthocyanin pigments which are produced in autumn and they give purple/red colour to leaves.
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