Energy from Food & the Sun
Use models to describe that energy in animals' food was once energy from the sun, transferred through plants or other organisms
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain that plants capture energy from sunlight to make food (photosynthesis)
- Trace an energy pathway: sun → plant → animal → another animal
- Explain that animals use food energy for body repair, growth, movement, and warmth
The lesson
You already know plants use air and water to grow, and that animals get nutrients from the food they eat. But where does the energy inside that food actually come from? It all starts with the sun.
A plant's leaves catch sunlight. The plant uses that light energy, along with air and water, to build food inside itself. This whole process is called photosynthesis. The sunlight's energy does not disappear, it gets stored inside the plant's food.
Think about a bowl of cereal. The cereal is made from wheat, a plant. The wheat plant captured energy from sunlight and stored it in its seeds. When you eat the cereal, that stored sunlight energy becomes your energy.
Once the sun's energy is inside your body, it does not just sit there. Your body uses it to grow taller, repair scrapes and cuts, move your muscles, and keep you warm.
Energy for every living thing starts at the sun, moves into plants, then travels into the animals that eat them.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.