Chapter 2: The science in the nature

The Colours of Autumn

I choose the same title that Still Acer because I want to explain something about the colours or autumn……

Do you know why the colour of the leaves is brown in autumn?

The leaves of the trees have chlorophyll, it is a green pigment. In the same way, the leaves have other kind of pigments such as yellows, oranges and red. Those are named carotenoid and there are of the same family that the pigments of the carrots. The amount of chlorophyll is greater than the carotenoid, so the colour green predominates. In autumn when the leaves are aging the level of chlorophyll decreases. So we can see the carotenoid pigments and this is why the leaves are brown and not green.