It is a scene replayed every year, the green fades to reds and gold and crimson. Sometimes it looks as if someone has thrown a palette of paints onto the leaves. Then those colors too, begin to fade and we hear the soft rustling as the leaves fall to the ground. Did you ever ask yourself, what makes the leaves change color or why they change just when they do. Leaves are green because of the process of photosynthesis.
Sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll in the leaves and serves as the energy for protein production.
Chlorophyll strongly absorbs the red and blue portions of sunlight best. Since chlorophyll absorbs green light poorly, green light is reflected and that s the color we end up seeing as leaf color. Leaves are the means by which the trees gather carbon dioxide, and give off oxygen. It is the roots that gather water and nutrients, but it is the leaves that process it. For a long time, Jack Frost got fingered for the change of color in leaves.