• Question: why is grass green?

    Asked by the kings to Priscilla, Mel, Jay Oty, Dorcas, Chapa on 23 Sep 2014.
    • Photo: Dorcas Kamuya

      Dorcas Kamuya answered on 23 Sep 2014:


      Hi @ Kings,
      A green pigment in grass, as well as in other green plants, called chlorophyll makes the grass green. Chrolophyll is used to synthesis sugars (the food for plants) using sunshine, in a process called photosynthesis.

      But then you may also realize that there are other plants that are not predominantly green, might you know why this is the case?
      Dorcas

    • Photo: Moses Kiti

      Moses Kiti answered on 24 Sep 2014:


      @Kings Grass is green because cows have to eat green grass. Trust me, my mom’s cows cannot eat hay!

      What we see is normally due to reflection of light, or in other words, light bouncing off objects. Objects have a natural tendancy to absorb or reflect certain colours (Light can be split up due to diffraction, remember?). Grass absorbs all other light apart from green, which is what we eventually see. This is a physicists explanation… A biologist on the other hand, would say that grass contains something called chlorophyll which is used in making food for the grass. Chlorophyll has a bright green colour which stands out especially in the presence of the sun – of course the grass has to be watered, else it will wilt.

      Did you know that grass can turn yellow when not exposed to light? 🙂

    • Photo: Priscilla Ngotho

      Priscilla Ngotho answered on 24 Sep 2014:


      @the kings
      A very good question and very good answers by the scientists. We humans see grass as green but did you know that some animals do not necessarily agree? Cows for examples are colour blind and do not see grass as green. We humans are good at perceiving colours so we see the green light as it bounces off the leaves but cows probably see it in shades of grey! So the real question is “Is grass green?”

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