Why Do Leaves Change Color?

[crunch crunch] Walk through the park in chilly air Red and orange leaves everywhere! But wait — last summer they were GREEN! What happened to the trees, you mean?

Why do the leaves go red and gold? Why don't they stay green when it gets cold? Why do the leaves go bright and bare? Let me whisper a secret in your ear:

The colors were ALWAYS there! The colors were ALWAYS there! Hiding under the green all year — Red and orange and yellow, my dear!

In summer, leaves are full of green Chlorophyll — the cooking machine! It catches sun and makes the food And paints the leaf a green green hood

But underneath that bright green coat Are yellow dots and red afloat Carotenoids and anthocyanins — Big-name pigments hiding within!

When autumn comes, the days grow short The tree pulls back — it's sugar court "No more food-making," whispers the tree, "Time to rest — let the chlorophyll be!"

The green fades out — bit by bit — And the hidden colors take a hit Of sunlight, finally on display: RED! ORANGE! YELLOW! Hooray!

The colors were ALWAYS there! The colors were ALWAYS there! Hiding under the green all year — Red and orange and yellow, my dear!

How do we know? How do we know? Take a green leaf — here's the show: Smush it on a paper strip, Dip it in alcohol — drip drip drip!

The colors split out in a line — GREEN at the bottom, but look up — FINE! Yellow band! And orange band too! The leaf had ALL of them — that's the clue!

[crunch] So next time leaves go red and bright Picture them red the whole long night Through summer, spring, and yesterday — The green just stepped out of the way!