into organic substances. The oxygen of the carbon dioxid
is set free and returns to the air (Fig. 2). Starch, sugar,
oil, and woody fiber are examples of substances thus
formed. Can you think of any fuel not due to plants?
How Animals obtain Energy.—You have noticed that starch, oil, etc., will burn, or oxidize, that is, unite with the oxygen of the air; thus the sun's energy, stored in these substances, is changed back to heat and motion. The oxidation of oil or sugar may occur in a furnace; it may also occur in the living substance of the active animal.
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Fig. 3.—Colorless plants, as Mushrooms, give off no oxygen.
A green leaf, even after it is cut, gives off oxygen (O) if kept in the sun.
Fortunately for the animals the plants oxidize very little of the substances built up by them, since they do not move about nor need to keep themselves warm. We notice that animals are constantly using plant substances for food, and constantly drawing the air into their bodies. If the sunlight had not enabled the green plant to store up these substances and set free the oxygen (Fig. 3), animals would have no food to eat nor air to breathe; hence we may say that the sunlight is indirectly the source of the life and energy of animals. Mushrooms and other plants without green matter cannot set oxygen free (Fig. 3).
