Energy in a Food Chain

Lab Brief #2

🎯 Your mission

Understand the idea. Then look for it everywhere.

⚡ The twist

Every species solves the same problem differently.

What you'll learn

A food chain shows how energy passes from one organism to another. Producers like plants capture energy from the sun, herbivores eat the plants, and carnivores eat the herbivores.

Key words

producer
A living thing, like a plant, that makes its own food.
food web
How plants and animals are linked by what they eat.
organism
Any living thing, such as a plant, animal, or tiny microbe.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you watch: what do you think it'll do?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Create a detailed food web for a local ecosystem. Include at least 8 organisms and use arrows to show energy flow from producers to top predators.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Watch carefully for any changes and note the time.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Create a data table to organize your measurements.

Question 1 of 3

What is the main source of energy for most food chains?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

Which organism is a producer in a food chain?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

What happens to energy as it moves up a food chain?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🐙 An octopus has 9 brains and 3 hearts.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: How Plants Reproduce All lessons

🎯

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Your own body is doing this thousands of times every second.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find one thing about your body that's different from a friend's. Wonder why.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Tell me something you noticed about your own body today.”

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