How Sunshine Helps Us (1961)

[Music] a day at the beach could anything be more fun the sand has been warmed by the Sun and so had the water and the bright Sunshine warms Jack too as Jack plays on the shore his father and mother are also enjoying the warm sunshine because the sunshine is very bright dad puts on his sunglasses sunglasses help to protect our eyes from bright sunlight Sunshine helps make vitamin D in our bodies we need Vitamin D to keep healthy but too much sunshine in a short time can cause our bodies to burn is Jack getting too much sunshine in a short time later that night Jack doesn't feel well uh-oh he is sunburned dad has some sunburn lotion that will soothe the pain dad says the sunburn doesn't look too bad Jack will soon be able to go out in the sun again and will have a very nice tan oh no Jack is finished with being out in the sunshine it might be better for everybody he thinks if there weren't any sunshine mother brings something to make Jack feel better she tells Jack something he never knew without Sunshine there wouldn't be any crackers to eat nor milk to drink no milk without Sunshine no [Music] crackers Jack can't believe that but Dad agrees with Mother Sunshine is just about the most important thing in the world and this is what Dad says sunshine or sunlight as the scientists say comes from the sun the sun is more than 93 million miles away from the earth on which we live it's very dangerous to our eyes to look directly at the sun because it's so bright to get a good good look at the sun scientists use special telescopes they know that the sun is very hot about 10,000 de on the outside and much hotter than that on the inside the Sun radiates or throws off energy when the sun's energy reaches the Earth part of it is changed into heat the sun provides enough energy to heat or warm our planet Earth it warms our busy cities and towns it warms our fields and meadows all over the Earth the energy of sunshine provides warmth that helps keep living things alive even when dark clouds seem to cover the sun there is still some sunlight which helps warm our Earth the Gathering of great clouds like these means that we'll have rain after the rainfall we can usually see the sun again the sunshine dries the Earth it dries the streets and sidewalks as Sunshine dries the Earth we say that the water evaporates or goes up into the air you've probably watched a wet place being dried by the sunshine all over the world Sunshine is evaporating water or taking it up into the air after a Time the water in the air forms clouds rain clouds the water then falls back on the Earth again the water falls as snow when the weather is cold when the weather is warmer it falls as rain we could not live without water from rain or snow water from rain and snow helps to make rivers and lakes which we use for transportation from rivers and lakes we take the fish that live there and which are useful to us and most important water from snow and rain provides human beings and animals with drinking water they need to stay alive growing plants too must have water if they are to stay alive so all living things need sunshine which helps to give them water Sunshine is especially helpful to plants we call green plants grass is a green plant green plants are any plants that make their own food all green plants need sunshine to help them make the food they need to live and grow to see if this is true Jack we could try an experiment if green plants really need sunshine to keep them alive what will happen if we cover up some grass with a board to to keep the sunshine away even though we'd water the grass regularly in a few days time we'd see that the grass which had no sunshine was unhealthy and dying compared with the grass that did have sunshine sunshine helps green plants Stay Alive by helping them make food how well if we could look inside the leaf of a green plant with a microscope we'd see tiny pieces of green matter moving about these pieces of green matter use the sunshine to make food in the leaf scientists call this photosynthesis photo means light synthesis means to put together so photosynthesis is a long word that means to put together with light to make food by using sunlight without sunlight or Sunshine there would be no photosynthesis and so there would be no green plants so Sunshine helps us by helping the many useful green plants about us are many kinds of trees shade trees and fruit trees too they need sunshine all vegetables are green plants that need sunshine even though some plants such as wheat are yellow when ripe they are still called green plants this is because they make their own food with the help of sunlight and remember mother said No Sunshine no crackers well we use wheat to make bread and crackers so wheat as well as corn and oats and hundreds of other plants are green plants that we need for food green plants that depend on Sunshine useful animals also depend on green plants Hogs and cattle from which we get our meat depend on green plants and remember no sunshine no milk well cows which provide us with milk butter and cheese depend upon such green plants as grass and clover and without sunshine to help green plants Jack there would be no food for these or any other useful animals and probably no useful animals either well Dad has told Jack many interesting things about sunshine Jack now knows that without the help of sunshine there would be very few living things on the earth Jack now understands that even though we may sometimes get a little too much sun Sunshine helps us in many ways and Jack thinks of another way Sunshine helps us without Sunshine we would have night all the time time and that would be pretty dreary as Jack fell asleep he thought of the many ways Sunshine helps us the next morning Jack watched the sunrise and thought how beautiful it was and later in a shady place he made a scrapbook which would remind him of the many ways sunshine helps us he had a picture of the Earth remember what he learned about the way Sunshine provides energy to warm the earth and the way water evaporated by Sunshine comes back to the Earth as rain or snow what do you think this picture shows about sunshine and green plants what did this picture tell Jack about useful animals and sunshine Jack wasn't thinking too much about his sunburn now he was busy thinking about more ways that Sunshine helps us