How & Why Do Leaves Change Color?

10/13/2012

A tree's leaves are in trouble when winter comes because they might freeze from the cold. In order to survive, all kinds of trees either have to somehow protect their leaves or get rid of them. Evergreen trees—your pines, spruces, firs, etc.— went the protection route. Their leaves, or needles, are covered in a waxy coating to resist freezing, allowing them to live for years or even decades before falling off and being replaced. The leaves of deciduous trees (like a maple, an oak, a birch, or a poplar), on the other hand, are dropped once winter is on its way. Chemistry is the reason why we have such beautiful colors of leaves in the fall!

Read the article on "Mental Floss" to discover exactly how it all happens:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/34223#ixzz29DmqDxWZ

Write a comment that explains your best understanding of why leaves change color in the fall. Why do they turn different colors? What is it that makes each color? Put it into your own words. This practices summarizing. :)

29 Comments

Katie H.

10/16/2012 09:13:16 am

(Yellow and Orange) There is a thing that is called a pigment it holds all the yellow and orange colors. The way the leaves are green is the chlorophyll. It turns off when the air gets cooler. The tree nows that the seasons are changing so it will freeze if the leaves are still green.

essay writing service link

8/20/2013 01:55:58 am

There are so many different aspects when it comes to this topic. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on this particular aspect.

Ryan M.

10/16/2012 09:28:54 am

I think that the leaves change color for the trees own protection.I think that the colors change to show that season changes and helps the tree live on into the next year.Well, green shows the leaves are still making clophyll,brown shows the waste of the leftovers,yellow and orange means the cloraphyll is down,and red is an item of lowering the freezing tempature.

Katie H.

10/16/2012 09:29:35 am

When the seasons change the leaves turn different colors, but how???
There are is thing called anthocyanins this is what turns the leaves red. The anthocyanins protect leaves from sun damage so when winter comes the tree and leaves won't freeze . This also helps them to stay on the tree longer. This lets the tree to have more time to gain more nutrients from its leaves.

Brian B.

10/16/2012 09:34:28 am

In the spring and summer the leaves stay green because of photosynthesis that's how plants make their food from sunlight and other stuff. But once fall domes around there isn't that much sunlight to give the plant food so it starts to turn different colors like red, orange, yellow and brown. Because those colors are practically hidden in the leaf (except for brown) so when the green go away the other colors come out. Now brown is different because it is just the tree's waste. I think that it is pretty cool, I would of never known this until Mr.Solarz told us about it!

Katie H.

10/16/2012 09:34:33 am

I think the leaves change colors because the tree needs more nutrinets because they need to survie the winter not the leaves. Thats also why I think they fall off because when all the nutrinets are sucked out of the leaves the tree doesn't need them any more so the leaves just fly off till there is no leaves left.

Joey D.

10/16/2012 09:48:43 am

I think the tree changes colors because they need a way of surviving the winter. The pigments protect the leaves from getting "frostbite".

Matt G.

10/16/2012 09:52:58 am

I think leaves change color because the tree is sapping the nutrients out of the leaves to have a burst of power to last the winter. Possibly they change color to protect themselves from frostbite and to feed all their nutrient to the tree to keep it alive.

Erin F

10/16/2012 09:55:50 am

The green colors come from a pigment called chlorophyll.The yellow and orange pigments are on the leaves already but only show when the green starts fading.Red colors come from a pigment called anthocyanins. This pigment starts showing after the green starts fading.When leaves are brown that is the trees waste.(To humans that is the thing we put in the toilet).

MICHAEL B.

10/16/2012 11:36:41 am

Hi Mr. Soarz. It's Michael and I think that the leave turn diffeent colors becuse the seasons will keep changing beause of the climate and ll the weater changing in the seasons. That ishow I thought about it and I infere about it. BYE.

Scout G.

10/16/2012 11:54:09 am

The leaves on trees change colors because when the climate is changing the trees stop the photothinthysis while slowing down the chloropyll till eventually different colors come out of the leaves depending on what kind of pigments the leaves have in them.For example,if they have carotene and xanthophyll they turn out yellow or orange

Kelly B.

10/17/2012 09:33:04 am

The leaves are changing color based on the weather, seasons, and the climate. A reason on how something the leaves changees is by, pigments. For an example, when leaves are brown it is the trees waste.

Taylor S.

10/17/2012 01:25:15 pm

I think leaves change color, like Rayan said- For the tree's protection. When we get closer to fall the earth gets fewer hours of sunlight so, trees start to stop making food. Then the chlorophyll process slows down, and eventually stops all together. Lastly as the chlorophyll fades away wich makes the orange and yellow color more visable.

Daniel K.

10/18/2012 07:29:01 am

Some leaves change color.The reason that there are brown leaves is because they are all worn out leaves.All other leaves are color changing because of something called pigments.Overall I learned a lot about leaves and why they change color!

Chris C.

10/18/2012 07:44:13 am

I think Leaves change color because they need different food to prepare for winter when they lose all there leaves.

Rowan M.

10/18/2012 09:19:20 am

I think the reason that leafs change color is because since the nights become longer or shorter it effects the photosynthesis and makes them change color.

Lily

10/18/2012 09:23:46 am

I think leaves change color to tell people that it is fall and that before they fall of they grab more nutriants for the winter. I also think leaves fall off the tree so they don't get cold and freeze and have a better chance of killing the tree.

Griffin

10/18/2012 10:18:39 am

I think leaves change colors in the fall because it gets colder and they have to provide different kind of "plant food" for the trees to live before they fall of i'm pretty sure that the leave color order is green the yellow then orange then red then brown.The hole point is that the leaves changing color causes them to fall off the tree.

Ian O. = ;}

10/18/2012 10:40:43 am

I think that leaves die because they need to survive through the winter and not freeze, or get a "frostbite". Another reason they might release there selves from there branches so they can stop them selves from being the victim of hurting the tree.
The reason that in the spring and summer, the leaves are green and clean (Heh, Heh,Heh) because sun is acting as the leaves' food, so in the fall, the leaves don't get the food they need, so they lose some pigments (wich is kinda like protection or the boss for the business for color), wich changes the color ofthe leaves.
When winter comes, the leaves have to eat there waste ( poo and pee for the human) and causes them to weaken up, causing them to fall.
There are lots of ways that leaves change there color, and why they fall.
I hope you learned something (at least from my rediculously long and awful speech)!!!! :)

Erik M.

10/18/2012 11:03:56 am

Leaves change colors because chlorophyll is what gives the leaves there green color. In the fall, the leaves lose their chlorophyll so they change colors.

Kelsie C.

10/18/2012 11:33:31 am

The leaves change color because leaves are nature's food factories. The Fall make the chlorophyll come off, which makes the color green (fall off) come off. Summer ends and days get shorter and shorter when Fall comes and this is when trees "know" to get ready for winter. During the winter, there is not enough light and water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, live off the food the trees stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their factories.

Jamie S

10/18/2012 02:15:59 pm

The leafs chang color because when it gets to cold the tree will die if it's leafs dont fall off so they do.The first colors that the leafs chang to are orange and yellow because the pagment falls off the leafs and then they turn into red because then it gets colder and the finnily brown and that is when the leafs fall off the tree and then the tree servives through the winter.

Marty D. ;)

10/18/2012 02:43:49 pm

In the summer time all the leaves stay green becuase photosynthesis is still going on and the plant is still making food for it self. Once fall and winter begin the leaves change to colors like red,orange,yellow,and brown. The thing that happens is that there are all-ways little pigments hidden in the leaf but there is so little pigment and so much other photosynthesis that the green just takes over. Then when the photosynthesis stops the little pigment takes over the leaf completely and so it makes the leaf change color. The brown is a different case though, the brown leaves are the leaves that hold all the plant's waste. I had no clue how or why leaves changed color until Mr. Solarz told us all.

Graham

10/19/2012 12:34:59 am

Green happens when chlorophyll, the orange and yellow happen carotene and xanthophyll (witch are usealy masked by the chlorophyll) come out and show there true colors. brown is sipley just waste of the plant trapped and finally red witch tends to stay on the tree the longest happens when chlorophyll startes breaking down and the anthocyanin comes out to make the red.

Graham

10/19/2012 12:37:25 am

The leaves different pigments show it can also happen as the leave breaks down.

Graham

10/19/2012 12:40:43 am

They change to different shades because the way the chemicals are they show different dominent colors but alot are usealy in one.

Amelia B.

10/23/2012 01:56:57 am

It's cool how leaves change colors with different pigments .I never knew that!

check this site link

8/11/2013 09:42:16 pm

I never knew much about how trees survive freezing. The leaves, or needles, are covered in a waxy coating to resist freezing, allowing them to live for years or even decades before falling. How amazing it is that trees do have a mechanism to survive.

essay writing services link

8/20/2013 01:54:02 am

What good is this kind of car is the style and i do like its transmission too.

How & Why Do Leaves Change Color?

Leave a Reply.

Author

Archives

Categories