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Most leaves are green because they contain the pigment chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll, a chemical which gives leaves its vivid green color, makes all of this happen. When the trees notice the days becoming shorter and the nights getting longer, their ability to synthesize chlorophyll reduces. Thus the green disappears and yellow and orange carotinoids and xanthophylls, which were always present, but hidden within the leaf, shine forth their colors. Other chemicals are produced that make the leaves appear red and purple. Any water and nutrients that were in the leaves go down to the stems as the tree prepares for the winter. When no food is left in the leaf, it falls, leaving behind a scar and a bud for the next year's growth.

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14y ago
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10y ago
  • sunlight
  • water
  • carbondioxide
  • glucose

Most leaves appear green because of the chlorophyl in the leaves. Chlorophyl is essential in the process of converting carbon dioxide to energy for the tree, and in the release of oxygen. When the production of chlorophyl stops in the fall, we are left seeing the actual colors of the leaves themselves, without the masking effect of the green chlorophyl.

However if the fall is cold and rainy, the leaves are more likely to be dark.

The production of chlorophyl stops, and the production of the chemical that makes leaves yellow and orange start. the leaves turn red because of a different chemical that the tree sends out to the leaves to get more nutrients from the sun when it gets cooler.

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14y ago

The green in leaves is from chlorophyll and aprocess called photosynthesis. The sun is the main source of energy that allows this process to happen. During the fall when daylight, (sunlight), is less, then so the photosynthesis process is also less. As the earth tilts away from the sun and the days grow shorter, the earth receives less of the power of the sun, and this reduces the amount of this reaction. This shortens until the true color of the leaf is finally allowed to show in the late fall. Some of this color was there all summer. When there is not enough of the suns energy received by the tree to keep the leaves on it anymore, the tree drops its leaves conserving energy. (But that's another question) Hence...

Cooler cloudy days of fall = less green (More Colors) in the leaves and

Warmer sunny days of spring = more green in the leaves

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12y ago

In leaves there is something called chlorophyll (gives leaves their colour). When the chlorophyll in the leaves is decaying that causes the leaves to change colour. When the chlorophyll is completely gone then the leaf would look goldenish. That's why in the fall you see orange-ish/golden leaves.

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9y ago

There are two basic processes involved, and for any given leaf it could be one or the other or some combination of the two.The first is that the chlorophyll pigment (which gives leaves a green color) stops being renewed, so the leaves revert to their "base" color.

The second is that products of decay start to build up in the leaves, and some of these decay products are highly colored.

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11y ago

autumn leaf color-leaf pigments, length of night, and weather

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11y ago

Three things influence the changing of a leafs color, autumn leaf color-leaf pigments, length of night, and weather

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Q: What causes the leaves to change color in the fall?
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Why do a tree's leaves change color in fall?

Certain types of trees, known as deciduous trees, have leaves which will not survive the cold of winter, and therefore, the tree withdraws useful minerals from the leaves in the fall, so that those minerals will not be lost when the leaves die and fall off the tree. It is a process of nutritional conservation. The change in the chemical composition of the leaves causes a corresponding change in color.


Why do tree's leaves change color in fall?

Certain types of trees, known as deciduous trees, have leaves which will not survive the cold of winter, and therefore, the tree withdraws useful minerals from the leaves in the fall, so that those minerals will not be lost when the leaves die and fall off the tree. It is a process of nutritional conservation. The change in the chemical composition of the leaves causes a corresponding change in color.


Why do a tree leaves change color in the fall?

Certain types of trees, known as deciduous trees, have leaves which will not survive the cold of winter, and therefore, the tree withdraws useful minerals from the leaves in the fall, so that those minerals will not be lost when the leaves die and fall off the tree. It is a process of nutritional conservation. The change in the chemical composition of the leaves causes a corresponding change in color.


Do the leaves change color in the fall in Texas?

The leaves would change colors and fall off if the tree is a deciduous tree


What does the leaves do during autumn?

they change color and fall


Why do leaves change in the winter?

They change color because of the weather change in the fall


Does the sugar maple leaves that change color and fall off in the fall?

Yes, each fall sugar maples (and other deciduous trees) remove the chlorophyll and other important compounds and nutrients from their leaves (which causes the other colors to become visible) and then drop the leaves.


Is leaves changing a color in fall a chemical change?

Yes


The change in the color of tree leaves in fall is an example of a physical change?

its called paint


The leaves of a tree change color in the fall This is an example of a tree what?

senescence.


What might happen to a katydid in the fall when the leaves change color.?

the katydid will never survive in the fall.


Why and when do leaves change color?

leaves change color in the fall (autumn). they change color because the chlorophyll drains out, cell death occurs and that causes the leaves to change color. it is not healthy for a leaf of a deciduous tree to maintain chlorophyll for more than a year. The chlorophyll is something in a leaf that absorbs all of the colors of the rainbow , red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, violet, but not green. The chlorophyll keeps the plant green.