Page 6 - Science Class 06

Plants are very important to us. All food that we eat comes directly or
indirectly from plants.

HOW FOOD IS FORMED? and light. No other living beings except

Steak comes from a cow and we all know plants can u lise this energy directly. Plants

that cows are animals, not plants, right? use this energy to make their own food.
But what does cow eat? It eats grass and The green leaves of the plant contain green
grains that actually come from PLANTS! pigments called chlorophyII. These

For example, apples come from an apple pigments trap sunlight. Leaves take carbon
tree. The flour used to make bread comes dioxide (CO ) from the atmosphere through
2
from a wheat plant. the small pores present in them called
stomata. The roots absorb water and
So, all the food we eat come from plants.
minerals from the soil which are sent to the
But what do plants eat? They make their
leaves. The leaves synthesise food for the
own food!
plant with the help of sunlight, CO , water
2
Sun is the only source of energy on the and minerals. Since sunlight is called photo
earth. It supplies energy in the form of heat the process of making food by plants is
called photosynthesis.

During the process of photosynthesis, plants
convert solar energy into chemical energy
Light energy
and also release oxygen (O ). They use the
2
energy to carry on their life processes and
Oxygen
store the rest amount of energy in the form
of food in their different parts such as
leaves, roots, stems, seeds and fruits. We

eat these parts of the plants to get energy
Carbohydrates Carbon dioxide and other nutrients.

AUTOTROPHS AND HETEROTROPHS
We can categorise all living beings into
autotrophs and heterotrophs on the basis of

their dependency on food.
Autotrophs : Plants prepare their food on

their own through the process of photo-
Photosynthesis synthesis. Therefore, they are all called

6 Science-6