Food Energy Comes from the Sun
Aligned to 5-PS3-1 — Next Generation Science Standards.
What this lesson teaches
Plants capture energy from sunlight and store it in the food they make. When animals eat plants (or eat other animals that ate plants), they take in that stored energy to move, grow, stay warm, and heal.
Worked examples
Example 1
A cow eats grass that grew using sunlight, then you drink the cow's milk for energy. The energy in your muscles started as sunlight the grass captured days ago.
Example 2
Firewood burns because a tree spent years storing the sun's energy in its wood. You are releasing an old summer.
Example 3
Even gasoline is stored sunlight — from plants that lived and died millions of years ago and were pressed into oil.
Practice questions
- Draw a chain showing energy moving from the sun to a plant to an animal to you.
- Model how a runner's energy for a race traces back to the sun.
- Explain why there would be no food energy for animals without the sun.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
La Energía de los Alimentos Viene del Sol
Las plantas capturan energía de la luz del sol y la guardan en el alimento que producen. Cuando los animales comen plantas (o comen otros animales que comieron plantas), toman esa energía guardada para moverse, crecer, mantenerse calientes y sanar.
Ejemplo 1: Una vaca come pasto que creció usando la luz del sol, y luego tú tomas la leche de la vaca para tener energía. La energía en tus músculos empezó como luz solar que el pasto capturó hace días.
Ejemplo 2: La leña arde porque un árbol pasó años guardando la energía del sol en su madera. Estás liberando un verano antiguo.
Ejemplo 3: Hasta la gasolina es luz solar guardada — de plantas que vivieron y murieron hace millones de años y fueron comprimidas hasta volverse petróleo.
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