The Polarity, Light Absorption, And Effectiveness Of The Driving Forces Behind Photosynthesis

There are two main types of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a which absorbs wavelengths of 430nm (blue) and 662 (red) and is the main photosynthetic pigment, and chlorophyll b, which doesn’t directly participate in the photosynthetic process, but is capable of donating its energy to chlorophyll a

After analyzing the results of the paper chromatography, the next step was the determination of the absorption spectrum for the spinach leaf pigments chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, xanthophyll, and carotenoids. The amount of absorbance was determined with the help of the spectrophotometry, which quantitatively measured the fraction of the light passing through each pigment extract solution, indicated on the absorbance scale. The wavelength was increased every 20-nm, starting with 400-nm, and reaching 740-nm. The results are shown in Table 1 and Table

Introduction: Photosynthesis can be defined as a solar powered process that removes atmospheric carbon dioxide and transforms it into oxygen and carbohydrates (Harris-Haller 2014). Photosynthesis can be considered to be the most important biochemical process on Earth because it helps plants to grow its roots, leaves, and fruits, and plants serve as autotrophs which are crucial to the food chain on earth. Several factors determine the process of photosynthesis. Light is one these factors and is the main subject of this experiment. The intensity of light is a property of light that is important for photosynthesis to occur. Brighter light causes more light to touch the surface of the plant which increases the rate of photosynthesis (Speer 1997). This is why there is a tendency of higher rates of photosynthesis in climates with a lot of sunlight than areas that primarily do not get as much sunlight. Light wavelength is also a property of

Major scientific concepts in this lab include chromatography and pigments. Chromatography is the division of mixtures, solution, and others into its different components. Chromatography is often used to separate a solution into its separate parts. Chromatography filters complicated compounds accurately without involving a difficult process so it is often used. In this lab, we used chromatography to separate the different pigments in the plants. When looking at plants, the colors of the plants are the colors that are reflected from the different wavelengths of the light spectrum. The colors that are not evident are the colors the plants absorb and use as energy. Pigments are the compounds of a plant the enable the reflected colors to be evident. These pigments function to capture light energy from the sun to enable the plants to undergo photosynthesis.

86. Carotene is a yellow or orange pigment that serves as an accessory to chlorophyll during

Pigments extracted from different greens have different polarities and may be different colors. Mixed pigments can be separated using chromatography paper. Chromatography paper is able to separate mixed pigments due to their polarity and solubility. Pigments of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and beta carotene will be separated on chromatography paper because each has its own polarity and solubility, which results in different distance traveled up the paper. Beta carotene is non-polar so it travels the highest distance, followed by chlorophyll a. Chlorophyll b is the most polar; therefore, it travels the shortest distance. The separated pigments on the chromatography paper can be eluted in acetone and absorbance spectrum is

The concepts of pigments in metabolism are applicable to this condition and are important in societal understanding. Pigments can be found in leaves, medicine, and food. Pigments contain chlorophyll a and b depending on the type of plant, where chorin wavelengths of both colors of blue and yellow are shown in the white light. This color gives the plant a green pigment. Plants reflecting green pigments are when the bouncing through the accessory pigments, going to the antenna complex, and then going to the reaction center occurs on a leaf. This bouncing of color of the leaf happens during the process of photosynthesis and absorbing all other colors in ROYGBIV. Anthocyanins comes from Greek origins meaning anthos =flower and kyanos=blue. Anthocyanin pigmentation is evident in foods mainly in fruits and vegetables, resulting in the blues, greens, purples, and red flavonoid pigments

The colors in leaves are all derived from certain pigments located within the leaves. Usually, these pigments are only seen in the fall. Yellow pigments are derived from xanthophyll and chlorophyll B. Orange colors in leaves are from a pigment called carotene. Chlorophylls A and B give trees a unique green shade to them, depending on the amount of pigment each leaf has. All of these pigments are used to gather sunlight and make food for the plant. Red or purple pigments are derived from anthocyanin.

Plants utilize chloroplasts to perform photosynthesis to produce glucose. Photosynthesis consists of two stages called light reactions and the Calvin cycle. Within the chloroplast, the thylakoid is the site of light reactions. The thylakoid is capable of absorbing light energy and transforming it to chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH which will later be used in the Calvin cycle. Pigments located inside the thylakoid allows for the absorption of visible light (Campbell, pg. 191). There are three significant types of pigments in chloroplast: chlorophyll a (main light-absorbing pigment) , chlorophyll b (accessory pigment), and carotenoids (group of accessory pigments).

The purpose of this experiment was to take spinach leaves and extract the chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments by using acetone as the solvent. The chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments were extracted by using column chromography and alumina was used as the solvent. Solvents of different polarities were used, starting with the least polar, to extract the certain components from the leaves. They were then analyzed by using thin- layer chromatography.

Back when I was a little kid, I used to always wonder why leaves change colors when the seasons change. I used to think that there was some kind of a company or an organization that had a bunch of painters come out and then they would simply paint every single leaf in the world a different color whenever the seasons changed, but then I learned about pigments. When the seasons change and the leaves change colors, it is not the leaves themselves that are actually changing. It is actually the pigments in the leaves that are changing colors. Pigments are what gives something its color, and with things like leaves, they can change along with the seasons. This can be proved by the experiment that I did a few days ago in which I used water, isopropanol, and salt to have the pigments leak from the leaves into some cups. After the experiment, all of the liquid in the cups were the same color as the leaves. According to Wikipedia, pigments get their colors from various sources of light, which affects what colors that the pigments are. The pigments that are on leaves get their color from the sunlight, which has a fairly uniform spectrum and a high color spectrum. The brown pigments in leaves are called tannins, the orange pigments are called carotenoids, and the yellow pigments are called xanthophylls. Carotenoids can also be found in things such as carrots,

Pigments are chemical compounds, which reflect and absorb only certain wavelengths of visible light. Because pigments interact with light to absorb only certain wavelengths, pigments are useful to plants and other autotrophs, which make their own food through the process of photosynthesis. (Unknown author,1997).

For lab 12, it is hypothesized that chlorophylls a and b are present in a plant leaf and contribute to the starch production in photosynthesis. Also, products of photosynthesis will be present in leaf tissue exposed to red and blue light wavelengths for several days, but a decreased presence in leaf tissue exposed to green and black light wavelengths. In lab 13, it is expected that since chlorophylls a and b are more polar and smaller molecules than the anthyocyanins and carotenoids, they will travel higher up the chromatography paper than the other pigments.

Because chlorophyll-a takes in violet-blue, and orange-red lights to use in photosynthesis, it reflects green, and that is the color we see. This study investigates the relationship between the wavelength of light and the total respiration of the plant Elodea. The purpose is to see the effect of the presence or absence of certain wavelengths can have on the process of photosynthesis. Because Elodea is a plant that reflects green light, it can be assumed that red lights, the complimentary color to green will be absorbed the most contributing to the process of photosynthesis and respiration making the most oxygen.

Chloroplast is an organelle in a plant that carries out photosynthesis. Chloroplasts are large and a mature leaf may contain 20-100. They are described as flattened spheres. New plant cells contain smaller organelles that contain proplastids that can develop into different forms of plastids. For example, amyloplasts are used to store starch, while chromoplasts create pigments for fruits and flowers. Chloroplasts contain chlorphyll which contain the green pigment observed in plants. The membranes within the chlorplast are importnat in the function of photosynthesis. Chloroplasts have an outer and inner membrane that are separated by an intermembrane space. The inner membrane contains stroma, a gel-like matrix filled with enzymes for C, N, and S reduction and assimilation. The outer membrane contains porins that allow solutes with a molecular weight of a maximum of 5000 to pass. The inner membrane transport proteins regulate the flow of metabolites between the inner membrane and intermembrane space. Thylakoids are the chloroplasts third membrane, which are flat, sac like structures within the stroma arranged in stacks called grana. The grana are connected by stroma thylakoids. The thylakoid lumen surrounfs the grana and stroma thylakoids. The thylakoid membrane is a semipermeable barrier which allows for the development of electrochemical proton gradient between the lumen and stroma.