Explain why the energy produced by burning wood in a campfire is energy from the sun.

I just don't get it. Could you please explain it for me? P.S. this is not a question on my sixth grade science homework, so why would you think that!?!

Because trees get their nutrients and energy from the sun. They absorb it through the leaves and it makes them grow strong. Then someone cuts down the tree and makes the wood for your fire. So, the fire burns the wood that was made from the tree that got nutrients and grew from the sun.

I didn't think it was a question on your sixth grade science homework until you said it wasn't. It's elementary psychology when people are defensive before being attacked it suggests the person has a guilty conscience.

As for your question, the energy in the wood is released when burnt in a campfire, but how did that energy come to be there in the first place?

It came because trees took energy from sunlight and formed complex hydrocarbons from simple molecules like carbon dioxide and water. This process is called photosynthesis. When the wood is burnt the opposite occurs, in fact combustion and respiration are very much the same process where long chains of hydrocarbons are turned into simple molecules like water and carbon dioxide releasing energy. Plants then take that carbon dioxide and water and energy from the sun to lock more energy away in complex structures like wood.

This is known as the Carbon cycle.

http://eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/cycles6.ht…

Edit Good luck with the assignment you don't have to hand in on Monday :)

The first answer is right. Most plants have chlorophyl. It absorbs light and converts CO2 into sugar and cellulose. That cellulose is what trees use to make wood.