Energy in Living Things

Living things hold energy inside them like a battery stores power for your toy car. This stored energy comes from the food we eat and the sunlight plants catch. We call this fuel chemical energy.

Imagine a leaf is like a tiny solar panel. It catches sunlight and turns it into sugar. This process is called photosynthesis. The sugar acts like a charged battery, holding energy ready for the plant to grow.

Animals cannot make their own sugar from light. Instead, they eat plants or other animals. When you eat an apple, you are borrowing the sun’s power that the tree stored. Your body breaks down that food to release ATP, which is like the spark that lets you run, jump, and think.

Think of your body as a campfire. Food is the wood. The fire burns the wood to give off heat and light. In living things, that "fire" keeps you warm and moving. Without this stored energy, you would be as still as a rock.

Energy is just stored sunlight, passed from plant to animal to you.

So, when you feel hungry, your "battery" is low. Eat a snack, and you are plugging yourself back in.