Analysis of the Absorption of Green Light Versus Red Light Absorption in Spinach Leaves
The goal of the experiment was to determine if green light had less ability to absorb than red light in spinach leaves. This was done by separating the photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotene and xanthophylls) from one another using paper chromatography. The separated pigments were then analyzed for their absorption spectrum using a spectrographometer. When the data was graphed it clearly showed the higher rate of red light absorption over green light. These results along with previous research indicate the importance of red light in photosynthesis and the minor role green light plays.
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).
Photosynthetic pigments work by absorbing different wavelengths of light and reflecting others. These pigments are divided into two categories primary (chlorophyll) and accessory (carotenoids) pigments. Chlorophyll is then divided into three forms a, b, and c (Campbell, 1996). Chlorophyll a is the primary pigment used during photosynthesis (Campbell, 1996). This pigment is the only one that can directly participate in light reactions (Campbell, 1996). Chlorophyll a absorbs the wavelengths of 600 to 700nm (red and orange) along with 400 to 500nm (blue and violet) and reflects green wavelengths (Lewis, 2004). Chlorophyll b has only a slight difference in its structure that causes it to have a different absorption spectra (Campbell, 2004). The carotenoid involved with spinach leaf photosynthesis absorbs the wavelengths of 460 to 550nm (Lewis, 2004). The pigments are carotene and its oxidized derivative xanthophylls (Nishio, 2000). A wavelength is determined by measuring from the crest of one wave to the crest of the next wave. All the wavelengths possible are...
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520 0.06 0.049 0.01 0.005 0.09
540 0.06 0.06 0.01 0 0.088
560 0.08 0.065 0.01 0 0.09
580 0.125 0.076 0 0 0.111
600 0.15 0.091 0 0.005 0.122
620 0.21 0.09 0 0.005 0.148
640 0.24 0.3 0 0.005 0.195
660 0.99 0.18 0.01 0.01 0.495
680 0.18 0.03 0 0.01 0.09
700 0.03 0.01 0 0 0.028
720 0.01 0.01 0 0 0.02
Figure 2: The absorabancy spectrum shows how absorbent the photosynthetic pigments are at different wavelengths of light. Note: Green light is between 500 to 570 nm and red light is between 630 to 720 nm.
References
Campbell, N.A., “Biology,” New York: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1996, 182-200.
Karohl, D., “Principals of Biology I Laboratory,” Lorain, Lorain County Community College, 2003, 65-71.
Lewis, R., “Life,” Boston: McGraw-Hill , 2004, 97-114.
Nishio, J.N., “Why are higher plants green? Evolution of the higher plant photosynthetic pigment complement,” Plant, Cell and Environment, 2000, 23, 539-5
Charter Schools are best known for combining traits and features of both public and private schools. Charters schools are not restricted to many of the rules and policies put on other public schools (Gale 1). For example teachers are given more free reign in charters, and they are not expected to stick to a certain curriculum. Because there is no specific criteria in place for teachers of charter schools, pay scales do not have to be followed for teachers and administrators. Also, charters are publically funded and have specialized accountability for producing certain results.
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).
Kraft, M. E., & Furlong, S. R. (2013). Public policy: politics, analysis, and alternatives (4th ed.). Washington DC, CQ Press.
To understand the actual differences of charter and public school quality of education, it is important to emphasize a fact often lost in the debate; namely, charter schools are public schools, which simply operate under different guidelines. This reality is more critical because of how perception clouds it. Charter schools are perceived as private institutions, supporters of them tend to be conservatives who feel the schools represent the value of competition in education, while opponents typically express the need for public school reform as more crucial in promoting educational equality (Rofes, 159). This political and ideological compone...
Public and charter schools may look to be the same, but charter schools differ in many ways and have an interesting origin that is often overlooked. The concept of charter schools began in New York City around the late 1980s and early 1990s by a man name Albert Shanker. They were originally created to be teacher-run schools that would provide education and services to students struggling in the traditional school system (Karp, 2013). These schools had operated outside the administrative bureaucracy and the big city school board. Shanker initial concern was that these small charter schools were dividing the district by serving a different population with unequal access as well as weakening the power of teacher union in negotiation over district-wide policies and regulations (Karp, 2013). Because of this Shanker withdrew his support, but charters had continued to grow and states were ...
Charter schools, which exist all over the United States, are “rooted in the premise of public, free education nestled in the ideas of parental choice” (Pardo 6). Since “Minnesota launched its first charter school in 1991”, charter schools have experienced “an enormous increase in number to over 5,300 by 2011” (Chen). Like traditional public schools, charter schools are “funded with public money” (Chen). However, parents have to “submit a separate application to enroll their children in charter schools, and spaces are often limited” (Pascual). Each charter school has an independent governing board that oversees finance (Pardo 6). Enrollment is based on choice, with parents selecting schools due to their specific focus, curriculum or other features (Pardo 7). When enrollment is exc...
Photosynthesis is the process in which plants/fungi process light photons and carbon dioxide into energy in the form of ATP and NADPH. This energy is then plugged into Calvin cycle and the biosynthesis of starch and sucrose. Photosynthesis is mainly synthesized in the chloroplast of the cell. The Chloroplast is made of three membranes which help to organize and regulate photosynthesis by creating specialized regions for the metabolic pathway to produce products and reactants. The inner membrane contains the stroma. The stroma contains thylakoids and the enzymes specific to the glycolate pathway. The thylakoid is made up of stack of grana and these grana are interconnected. These stacks of thylakoid layer together forming lumen which is semipermeable to light photons and is the proton gradient that allows for the synthesis of ATP.
Conclusion- The data supports my hypothesis. By looking at the graph titled “Average Rate of Photosynthesis” we see massive photosynthetic activity occurring from :30 to 10:00 with particularly impressive growth occurring in red and blue light around the 5:00 and 8:30 respectively. The colors that have the highest influence on photosynthesis is blue and red. This is also why so many gardeners both amateur and professional alike use blue and red lights to grown plants. Under red light, all discs floated before the tenth minute. This was also observed with blue light. The graph shows that green had the least successful photosynthetic rate, whereas red, blue and regular natural light had the most successful photosynthetic rate. Photosynthesis involves converting light energy in chemical energy through the use of photosynthetic pigments like chlorophyll. Light from the sun is comprised of different colors, sometimes referred to as wavelengths. My data matches research conducted by other scientists: chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light more than green. The green light is instead reflected making the leaves appear green. Green light experienced almost no photosynthesis throughout the entire experiment at any time. Almost no discs floated to the top at any point. Yellow, interestingly, was an outlier. I will discuss this further in the “Limitations of Experimental Design” section.
...ny underprivileged children the opportunity to receive a formal education, paving the way to an overall better future. However, those underperforming charter schools invite criticism from the public school system as their remarkably low test scores deem them unable to prove their worth or purpose of existence. This may leave some to question what the charter school system is able to achieve that the public school system cannot. While advocates of the public school system may not entirely agree with the effectiveness of the charter schools system, a couple of positives they are able to learn from the charter school structure are the concepts of flexibility and experimentation, as they are crucial to the learning process. While both systems of education differ greatly, their greatest commonality lies in their overall goal of aiding their students in reaching success.
The system involved in this lab was L-dopa as a substrate, enzyme was Tyrosinase, and the product was Dopachrome. Tyrosinase is commonly known as polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that present in plant and animal cell (#1 Boyer). In plant cell, the biological function if Tyrosinase is unknown, but its presence is readily apparent. Tyrosinase is also involved in the browning of fruits, tubers, and fungi that have been damaged. In mammalian cell, Tyrosinase is involved in melanin synthesis, which gives skin its color. It will act on the substrate L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-Dopa) and convert to Dopachrome, which is the product that has color, and it can measure at 475nm using the Spectrophotometer. This work based on the Beer-Lambert’s Law (A=εlc), A stands for Absorbance, ε is extinction coefficient or the molar absorptivity (M-1 cm-1), and l is the path length (distance) that light passes through the sample (cm), c is a concentration of solution (M) (#3 Ninfa, Ballou, Benore). Beer- Lambert Law predicts a linear relationship between absorbance and the concentration of a chemical species being analyzed. It states that the absorbance (A) of a sample solution is directly proportional to the concentration (c) of the absorbing colored
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...
In plants, proteins called photosynthetic reaction centers contain green chlorophyll that absorbs light energy. These proteins are held inside organelles called chloroplasts, which is abundant in leaf cells. In contrast, bacteria house the proteins in the plasma membrane. Chloroplasts are found in the cells of green plants and photosynthetic algae where photosynthesis takes place. Inside the chloroplast are folded structures in disk-shaped arrangement called thylakoids, which enclose chlorophyll in their membrane. Only certain portions of the light spectrum can be absorbed and the photosynthetic action spectrum is dependent on the type of accessory pigment present. Green plants mostly absorb red and blue wavelengths because the action spectrum corresponds to absorption spectrum for chlorophylls and carotenoids. The color of the pigment comes from the wavelengths of light reflected. Plants appear green because they reflect yellow and green wavelengths of light. Photosynthesis involves two series of chemical events, called the light independent that occurs in the stroma and light dependent reactions that occurs in the lumen. They are also known as light and dark reactions this terminology is somewhat ambiguous, because the entire process of photosynthesis is regulated to take place when an organism absorbs visible light. Organized clusters of chlorophyll and beta-carotene in the thylakoid membrane are present to
According to scientists, photosynthesis is “the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct.” ("pho•to•syn•the•sis,")
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).
Piper, Karin. “Education 101: What Is a Charter School?” Editorial. Examiner.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 July 2009.