Chlorophyll, found in producers like green plants and algae, is a pigment that can absorb visible light. The light energy is used during the process of photosynthesis when producers make organic compounds, like glucose, to be used as chemical energy. They use the inorganic compounds carbon dioxide and water to carry out this process.
Visible light consists of different wavelengths which correspond to the colors we see in a rainbow. They are, from longest to...
Chlorophyll, found in producers like green plants and algae, is a pigment that can absorb visible light. The light energy is used during the process of photosynthesis when producers make organic compounds, like glucose, to be used as chemical energy. They use the inorganic compounds carbon dioxide and water to carry out this process.
Visible light consists of different wavelengths which correspond to the colors we see in a rainbow. They are, from longest to shortest, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Chlorophyll doesn't absorb every color of the rainbow equally.
The greatest pigments absorbed by chlorophyll are the red and blue wavelengths. The color green is reflected by chlorophyll and not absorbed. The reflection of the green wavelength causes our eyes to perceive leaves as green. This is because leaves contain cells which have organelles known as chloroplasts which contain the chlorophyll pigment. Because green light is reflected, a green light source would not be effective for a plant to grow and carry out photosynthesis.
In terms of wavelengths, visible light has a range of 700 nanometers for the red end of the visible spectrum to 400 nanometers for the blue end of the spectrum. Green light has a range of 577-492 which is least absorbed by chlorophyll.
No comments:
Post a Comment