• Question: Hello, I was just thinking, why do leaves have to be green?

    Asked by to Dre, Charli, Heather, Oliver, Becky on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Rebecca Williams

      Rebecca Williams answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Hi alberteinstein,
      Leaves are green because of something in them called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll allows plants to absorb energy from sunlight, which is important for them to grow.
      Sunlight looks bright white to us, but it is made up of all the colours of the rainbow. Chlorophyll absorbs all those colours except for green, which it reflects instead. So, it makes it look green to us when we see it!

    • Photo: Charlotte Flavell

      Charlotte Flavell answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      As Becky already said, leaves are green because of the chlorophyll, but not all leaves are green. Some plants have white, yellow, orange, red or even purple leaves. In these cases, the leaves still contain chlorophyll, but they also have some other chemicals in that cause the colour to appear different.

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