The Color of Fall
By: Kevin Zhao
Many changes happen in Fall. However, the most interesting and colorful one is when leaves turn yellow, orange and red. Do you know why leaves change color ?
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First, let me introduce chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the pigment that provides food for the leaves and the tree and gives plants their green color. It is created by leaves, using water and sunlight. In Fall, the length of sunlight we get each day becomes shorter. Because of this, chlorophyll breaks down, causing the green to fade away, and other colors start to show. The most common colors are red, orange, and yellow.
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Why do the leaves turn into different colors instead of the same color?
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In Spring and Summer, the leaves have carotenoids so they don’t degenerate. Carotenoids make the leaves orange and yellow, but are covered by the green of the chlorophyll. When the green disappears in Fall, the orange and yellow show. However, leaves turning red is something else. Leaves get different amounts of sunlight. If the process of making food slows or stops, a day with a lot of sunlight can harm the leaf. Molecules called anthocyanins protect leaves and act like sunscreen, absorbing the heat. This gives the leaf a shade of red. That is why we see a colorful world in Fall.
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Don’t forget, there is one more color in fall: green. Some trees stay green all year. They are evergreens. Why don’t they change color? If you observe carefully, you will find out evergreens have very strong leaves rolled up tight, like long, thin needles. They also have a waxy coating. This allows evergreens to conserve water, which is needed for photosynthesis. It can allow the chlorophyll to stay strong and keep the green color. This makes the tree strong during the winter, so it doesn’t lose its leaves.
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Now you know why leaves change color during the Fall. It is created by the amazingness of nature. Nature creates amazing things across all four seasons, and one of the most spectacular ones is when everything becomes the color of Fall.