Photosynthesis Lab

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Plant pigments are molecules which reflect one color and absorb the rest. Plants use this light for photosynthesis which is the process by which plants make their food for energy. The reason for there being more than one pigment in a leaf is because each pigment can only absorb certain wavelengths of light, so leaves have more than one so they can absorb more light for photosynthesis. The pigments used for photosynthesis are found in the thylakoid membranes. Light must pass through the leaf and into the photosynthetic pigments so it can be absorbed. This is the reason why leaves are so thin. They want light to penetrate the leaf and get into the chlorophyll so photosynthesis can occur. If the leaves were to be thick then no light …show more content…

Due to the water property of adhesion the water can stick to the paper, and climb up it.
Pigments are carried along at different rates because the pigments are not equally soluble in the solvent and, are not equal in size.
Leaves change color in the fall because the days are shorter and there is not enough light to make photosynthesis from the chlorophyll pigments very efficient, so the plants register to this and stop making food. This causes the green chlorophyll to disappear. Other pigments already found in the leaves are no longer hidden by the chlorophyll so we can see them. These colors include yellow, orange. and …show more content…

In the lab the pigments are either more soluble, or less soluble than the others making them travel different distances. If the solvent were to be changed, they would move different distances. Another factor would be a different material of paper. This may cause the solvent to either climb less or climb more resulting in different measurements and numbers. Lastly, one other factor would be the color of the leaf. If the leaf were to be one from fall, then more pigments would be seen, and as such, the chlorophyll would not be seen because it would have been inactive in the changing of the

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