Why is grass green?

Every object on the Earth has its own color. Rather than calling it an object on Earth, it would be apt to call it an object under the Sun. The color is naturally imparted to it when white light falls on the object. We all know that white light consists of seven rainbow colors. It is evident from the prism experiment, which everyone might have done in their science lab during school days.

Every object appears in its natural color when it reflects and refracts some part of the white light that is falling on it. Snow is white as the white light falling on it reflects and refracts equally without absorbing any light of particular wavelengths. The sky is blue as it absorbs all the other wavelengths of light except blue, among the seven color wavelengths that constitute white light. The blue light is reflected and refracted, and later reaches our eye. Hence, the sky appears blue.

Similarly, grass appears green as it absorbs all the other wavelengths in the light except green. Grasses reflect and refract green light which reaches our eyes and make us identify grass as green color. The exact molecule that is present in grasses, and in fact in all the green plants, which is responsible for the green color is chlorophyll. It is the green pigment present in the chloroplasts (cell organelle) of all plant cells. Chlorophyll has magnesium ion as one of its chemical components.

Chlorophyll converts the inorganic elements called photons, otherwise called energy packets, into energized chemicals. These chemicals release electrons to get changed, and transfer the energy. This energy is used up in synthesizing the organic sugars which act as food for the plant. This chlorophyll, which is identified as green pigment, is able to absorb red and blue lights, and reflects green light.