Diane Wilwerding, age 10, of Omaha, Neb., for her question:

WHAT MAKES THE FALL LEAVES CHANGE COLOR?

The trees that wear those gorgeous autumn colors are the ones that shed their leaves before winter comes. All summer their lovely leaves were colored green with chlorophyll. This green chlorophyll is a wondrous chemical. It can use sunshine to make plant food from air and water. But when the time comes to shed the leaves, no more plant food is needed.

Then the green chlorophyll breaks apart  and the leaves change to all sorts of candy colors. Actually the chemicals that have these bright colors were there in the leaves all the time, but there was so much of the green chlorophyll that they were hidden. When the green chemicals go away in the fall, the other chemicals get a chance to show their colors.