Why does a plant bend towards the sun?

Some plant bending is due to the side of the plant toward the light source not growing as rapidly or at all relative to the shaded side which results in the bending....Turn you plant every 2-3 days for even growth! Good Luck

Why does a plant bend towards the sun?
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Reply:That first guy's an idiot!
Reply:because plants get oxygen and all their nutrients through photosynthesis (which means they get it through their leaves)


so the plant tends to bend to wherever there's a source of light for it to grow towards.
Reply:it reaches out for maximum sunlight and therefore moves towards the sun's area...
Reply:For the same reason that you bend your fork %26amp; spoon towards your food and insert it into your mouth.
Reply:to get sun ray
Reply:the sun gives it food or energy, its like yoou going toward the frig when your hungry
Reply:God's design





I am sure you will get lots of answers as to WHAT is happening....but ...





you have asked "WHY?"





GL
Reply:Well because, the plant cannot live without the UV rays from the sun. So to get the most out of the UV rays it "bends" toward theUV rays wherever they're hitting the plant at.
Reply:the sunflower's shy wife!!!!!!
Reply:A plant bends toward light 'cause it requires light to make food.


So, a typical experiment is to put a plant in a box with a tiny hole in it, and put the box out in the Sun.





Chemical formula: Carbon Dioxide+ Water + Sunlight = Glucose + Oxygen (If I'm not wrong)





After a few days (or less), you should find it bending towards the hole, in which the Sunlight goes through.
Reply:A plant bends so that it maximizes the surface area of its leaves to receive sunlight.
Reply:coz the plants follow the sunlight that it needs to produce food.
Reply:As has already been stated, the movement itself is called phototropism. The fact that plants bend towards light was discovered by Charles Darwin and his son years ago, but they didn't know what caused the plant to bend towards the light. What has recently been discovered is the hormone that causes this movement, called auxin. Auxin causes the plant to react to light, specifically blue light, and move towards it in order to maximize the amount of photosynthesis going on in the plant.
Reply:Because plants are nourished by the sun through photosynthesis, the process where sunlight is used to produce sugars for the plant. So, they naturally gravitate toward the sun.
Reply:phototropism. - the tendancy of a plant to bend towards the sun.


you can prove it experimently as-well.


Check the net for " phototropism "
Reply:Phototropism is directional plant growth in which the direction of growth is determined by the direction of the light source. Phototropism is one of the many plant tropisms or movements which respond to external stimuli. Growth towards a light source is a positive phototropism, while growth away from light is called negative phototropism (or Skototropism). Most plant shoots exhibit positive phototropism, while roots usually exhibit negative phototropism, although gravitropism may play a larger role in root behavior and growth. Some vine shoot tips exhibit negative phototropism, which allows them to grow towards dark, solid objects and climb them.


Phycomyces, a fungus, also exhibit phototropism


Phycomyces, a fungus, also exhibit phototropism





Phototropism in plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana is regulated by blue light receptors called phototropins. Other photosensitive receptors in plants include phytochromes that sense red light and cryptochromes that sense blue light. Different organs of the plant may exhibit different phototropic reactions to different wavelengths of light. Stem tips exhibit positive phototropic reactions to blue light, while root tips exhibit negative phototropic reactions to blue light. Both root tips and most stem tips exhibit positive phototropism to red light.





Phototropism is enabled by auxins. Auxins are plant hormones that have many functions. In this respect, auxins are responsible for expelling H+ ions (creating proton pumps) which decreases pH in the cells on the dark side of the plant. This acidification of the cell wall region activates enzymes known as expansins which break bonds in the cell wall structure, making the cell walls less rigid. In addition, the acidic environment causes disruption of hydrogen bonds in the cellulose that makes up the cell wall. The decrease in cell wall strength causes cells to swell, exerting the mechanical pressure that drives phototropic movement.





So it is not so much that plants grow towards light, it is that they grow away from dark.
Reply:Imagine if u will, scientists pondering the same question long ago, those who came up with solar panels knew.





A plant gets its energy from the sun, using Chlorophyll (the part that makes the plant green, a green 'pigment' that you can find in most plants) in a process that uses light energy from the sun in chemical reactions.





The plant faces towards the sun like the solar panels on the ISS do in space so as to maximise the amount of surface area receiving sunlight exposure. Wow plants are clever hey. They do this by engorging cells on parts of their stems more on one side than the other so that the plant sort of bends towards the light, so I guess maybe they are so much clever as well adapted. Plants use carbon dioxide in the air as well as sunlight, and water in that chemical reaction I mentioned earlier, this reaction is called Photosynthesis. This preceeds respiration which is the same in the human body except we use oxygen and foods and water.





Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, use the energy from sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration converts into ATP, the "fuel" used by all living things. The conversion of unusable sunlight energy into usable chemical energy, is associated with the actions of the green pigment chlorophyll. The photosynthetic process uses water and releases oxygen.





Chlorophyll is not just a green pigment though, no, there are these tiny little things called chloroplasts, which are like tiny little machine like beasties, you can google it and see what I mean. Its really interesting.
Reply:the plant bends towards the sun as they wanted to reach out for sunlight to photosynthesise.