Life on Earth as we know it wouldn’t be possible without photosynthesis. The processes of life are driven by energy from the sun entering the atmosphere, and are then transformed into organic molecules by the process of Photosynthesis. The energy channeled from the sun changes into light photons so that it’s possible for it to enter the Earth’s surface. As it changes into light photons, and enters the atmosphere into the plants, it then changes into chemical energy. Plants, algae, and bacteria harness light’s energy and use it to convert carbon dioxide and water into life-giving oxygen and sugar in the process photosynthesis (The Bottled Sunshine: Discovering and Harnessing the Power of Photosynthesis, The University of Illinois, Claire Benjamin …show more content…
Chlorophyll is the green pigment that is located in the chloroplasts of the plant. Even though chlorophyll is the main component that we view in plants, there are other pigments that can be found in distinct plant organisms. For instance, the pigment carotenoid is a nonpolar substance that is produced in the chromoplasts of the ray flowers to produce bright yellow-orange colors. Another pigment, known as Xanthophyll, also produces yellow colors, similar to the pigment carotenoid. Furthermore, another pigment that can be found in plants is the Anthocyanin pigment. This pigment is a water-soluble component that represents the pink-red color in the flower petals. As stated each of these pigments have different solubility levels that can be determined with the separation process of paper chromatography. The solvent that the paper would be placed in is a nonpolar substance, meaning that it contains molecules that repel water. Therefore, as the solvent moves alone the paper, it will carry the nonpolar molecules from the pigment as nonpolar molecules attach to other nonpolar molecules. Therefore, the carotenoid and xanthophyll pigment would move up along the chromatography paper. Furthermore, the paper used in this separation process is composed of polar molecules. Hence, it would cling to the other polar substances in the pigments and remain at the bottom. As the process …show more content…
Some leaves may contain only a certain pigment that would absorb a certain wavelength of the photon, making it necessary for photosynthesis. Otherwise, the other wavelengths of the light energy can be transmitted, or reflected instead of being converted into chemical energy. Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b are the most abundant pigments located in plants. They would usually absorb wavelengths of blue light, which is at the left end of the absorption spectrum, and wavelengths of red light, which is situated at the right end of the visible light spectrum. Both Chlorophyll pigments reflect green light, hence why it appears green in plants. Chlorophyll b, however, is not as abundant as Chlorophyll a, hence why on the chromatography paper, it is more soluble and remains at the bottom. The carotenoid pigment is known as an accessory pigment that occurs in all photosynthetic organisms. This pigment, and also the pigment Xanthophyll, absorb light between the colors, blue, green, and yellow. However, it reflects the colors red, orange and yellow. We mainly see these colors during the fall season in the Northern states and countries, as the leaves change their colors. For Photosynthesis, blue and red photons are mainly absorbed to convert the light energy into chemical energy, and to produce organic substances. Hence, this is why both of the chlorophyll pigments are presented as positive for the test of starch in Iodine Lugol’s Solution tests
The majority of life on Earth depends on photosynthesis for food and oxygen. Photosynthesis is the conversion of carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen using the sun’s light energy (Campbell, 1996). This process consists of two parts the light reactions and the Calvin cycle (Campbell, 1996). During the light reactions is when the sun’s energy is converted into ATP and NADPH, which is chemical energy (Campbell, 1996). This process occurs in the chloroplasts of plants cell. Within the chloroplasts are multiple photosynthetic pigments that absorb light from the sun (Campbell, 1996).
Plants can absorb and use light energy because they have a green pigment, chlorophyll, contained in the chloroplasts in some of their cells. Chlorophyll allows the energy in sunlight to drive chemical reactions. Chloroplasts act as a energy transducers, converting light energy into chemical energy. So as the plant has more light the chlorophyll inside the chloroplasts can react faster absorbing in more light for food and energy.
The high rate of absorbance change in blue light in the chloroplast samples (Figure 1) can be attributed to its short wavelength that provides a high potential energy. A high rate of absorbance change is also observed in red light in the chloroplast samples (Figure 1), which can be accredited to the reaction centre’s preference for a wavelength of 680nm and 700nm – both of which fall within the red light range (Halliwell, 1984). Green light showed low rates of photosynthetic activity and difference in change in absorbance at 605nm in the chloroplast samples (Figure 1) as it is only weakly absorbed by pigments, and is mostly reflected. The percentage of absorption of blue or red light by plant leaves is about 90%, in comparison to the 70–80% absorbance in green light (Terashima et al, 2009). Yet despite the high absorbance and photosynthetic activity of blue light, hypocotyl elongation was suppressed and biomass production was induced (Johkan et al, 2012), which is caused by the absorption of blue light by the accessory pigments that do not transfer the absorbed energy efficiently to the chlorophyll, instead direction some of the energy to other pathways. On the other hand, all of the red light is absorbed by chlorophyll and used efficiently, thus inducing hypocotyl elongation and the expansion in leaf area (Johkan et al, 2012).
Experiment #3: The purpose of this experiment to test the chromatography of plant pigments the alcohol test strip test will be used.
In this laboratory, the degree of absorbance for the pigments in a leaf sample were observed using mechanisms that involved pigment isolation from a leaf extract, obtaining wavelength measurements, and displaying the measurements on an absorption spectra.
An Analysis and Evaluation of Data from Photosynthesis Experiments Graph analysis This is my analysis for the investigation in to the affect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis to the Canadian pondweed, elodea. In the results the pattern is that when the light intensity is higher the readings are generally higher. On the graph the less the light intensity the lower the gradient of the curve. the equation for the photosynthesis process is; CO2 + 2H2O + Light Energy = =
Photosynthesis is something that helps the plants to grow, but it is also very beneficial to us because of the fact that we need to breathe oxygen to maintain our functions of life. Plants produce an abundant supply of energy that is stored because they are what I would like to call savers/hoarders. Plants store the extra energy that they produce into different things such as potatoes, carrots, and other different types of food that we use to maintain our cellular respiration. Without photosynthesis it would be hard for animals to find fuel for cellular respiration and there would be no life as we know it due to photosynthesis being one of the key roles in life. After learning about cellular respiration, I have found out that both plants and animals use this when creating energy.
The process of photosynthesis is present in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and is the process in which cells transform energy in the form of light from the sun into chemical energy in the form of organic compounds and gaseous oxygen (See Equation Below). In photosynthesis, water is oxidized to gaseous oxygen and carbon dioxide is reduced to glucose. Furthermore, photosynthesis is an anabolic process, or in other words is a metabolism that is associated with the construction of large molecules such as glucose. The process of photosynthesis occurs in two steps: light reactions and the Calvin cycle. The light reactions of photosynthesis take place in the thylakoid membrane and use the energy from the sun to produce ATP and NADPH2. The Calvin cycle takes place in the stroma of the chloroplast and consumes ATP and NADPH2 to reduce carbon dioxide to a sugar.
Photosynthetic pigments are essential for life because they allow photosynthesis to occur by capturing sunlight which is then used alongside carbon dioxide and water to form organic compounds such as glucose and oxygen. The pigments allow the conversion of light energy to chemical energy which other organisms can benefit from. Oxygen is utilised by other organisms in aerobic respiration. The different pigments present in the chloroplasts allow a wide variety of wavelengths of light to be absorbed for efficient photosynthesis and provide colours to the plant to attract pollinators.
Photosynthesis is a process in plants that converts light energy into chemical energy, which is stored in bonds of sugar. The process occurs in the chloroplasts, using chlorophyll. Photosynthesis takes place in green leaves. Glucose is made from the raw materials, carbon dioxide, water, light energy and oxygen is given off as a waste product. In these light-dependent reactions, energy is used to split electrons from suitable substances such as water, producing oxygen. In plants, sugars are produced by a later sequence of light-independent reactions called th...
Photosynthesis is a process in which plants and other organisms convert the light energy from the sun or any other source into chemical energy that can be released to fuel an organism’s activities. During this reaction, carbon dioxide and water are converted into glucose and oxygen. This process takes place in leaf cells which contain chloroplasts and the reaction requires light energy from the sun, which is absorbed by a green substance called chlorophyll. The plants absorb the water through their roots from the earth and carbon dioxide through their leaves.
Photosynthesis and cellular respiration help sustain life on planet earth as both are metabolic processes in their own way. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants and other organisms use energy from the sun to form glucose from water and carbon dioxide. From there, glucose is then converted to ATP by way of cellular respiration. To convert nutrients that are biochemical energy into ATP, a process such as cellular respiration that has reactions needs to take shape in the cell of an organism, releasing waste products at the same time. For the continuous energy cycle that tolerates life on Earth as we know it Photosynthesis and Cellular respiration very essential. They have a few stages where energy and various connections occur within the eukaryotic cell. Cellular respiration takes place in the lysosome, an organelle that is found in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. It uses enzymes to break down biomolecules including proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. Photosynthesis involves the chloroplasts, which contain pigments that absorb the sunlight and then transfigure them to sugars the plant can use. Those specific processes are crucial in how far and diversified evolution has
The Importance of Photosynthesis and What it Does for Life According to scientists, life is “the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death, also the way of life of a human being or animal. ”("Life,”) In order for one to have life, one must have the nine characteristics to be considered a living thing. These nine characteristics are: all living things are made up of cells, living things are able to reproduce, living things use energy, maintain homeostasis, respond and adapt to the environment, grow and develop, have a life span, evolve over time, and are interdependent. All of the nine characteristics have one thing in common, something that is needed for all living things to work, even if they do not know it.
however it does not easily absorb green or yellow light, rather it. reflects it, this decreases the rate of photosynthesis. This can
Photosynthesis is the process in which living cells from plants and other organisms use sunlight to produce nutrients from carbon dioxide and water, the image below “Diagram of photosynthesis 1,” helps show this process. Photosynthesise generally creates oxygen as a by-product through the use of the green pigment, chlorophyll, found in the plant that helps this reaction occur. “Photosynthesis provides us with most of the oxygen we need in order to breathe. We, in turn, exhale the carbon dioxide needed by plants,” (factmonster,2017). This is able to show us why photosynthesis is so greatly needed to occur through plants in order to give one another essentials needed for continuity of life. “Plants perform photosynthesis because it generates the food and energy they need for growth and cellular respiration,” (photosynthesieeducation, 2016).