Autumn

Hi my online friend, i’m back to write down all of my experiences during this week. This week is the third week in fall semester. The weather is changing from the humid summer into the windy autumn. The leaves are changing their colour and fall off the trees. Actually, I enjoy the colour of autumn. I just imagine how great our God is…. when He created this wonderful season. Well, I wonder why do fall leaves change colour? I got the answer from one of the sides. Hereis the explanation:

Leaves are nature’s food factories. Plants take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose. Glucose is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis. That means “putting together with light.” A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color.

As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees “know” to begin getting ready for winter.

During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can’t see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves (source: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html).

WOW, that’s the explanation from the science perspective. Above all, I want you to know that this is my first autumn in Korea. Then, I wouldn’t pass this season without enjoying it.

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