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Why no photosynthesis takes place in blue color light, and why minimum photosynthesis takes place in green color light, and Why the rate of photosynthesis is maximum in red color light?
Question Date: 2013-04-24
Answer 1:

That is a great question, light is a very tricky thing as it comes in various forms of energy levels. UV light (close to purple and blue) is very high energy and that's why we get sunburned. On the other side of the spectrum is Infrared (close to red) which is seen in night vision goggles and can be seen from heat emitting from our bodies, a relatively low energy light. Plants, just like us can only tolerate certain wavelengths of light, especially for the chemical reactions of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis occurs when pigments, molecules in the plant cell, absorb light photons and transfer them around to create chemical energy. These pigments are picky in terms of which light they can use. There are two types of Chlorophyll pigments, A and B. Chlorophyll A absorbs a lot of red and some blue while Chlorophyll B absorbs a lot of blue and some red. Neither absorb green much which is why plants appear green.

Cheers,

Answer 2:

Chlorophyll absorbs red light. No light gets absorbed by chlorophyll means the plant can't do photosynthesis.


Answer 3:

Trees and plants are green because of a green pigment called chlorophyll. This pigment absorbs red light the best, and converts the light into energy that it uses for metabolism. As you likely know, this pigment allows plants to use light as a form of energy, as a part of a process called photosynthesis. Instead of eating food to build molecules, plants can take light from the sun and use the energy to convert carbon dioxide from the air into useful molecules! However, the pigment doesn't strongly absorb blue or green light, so plants can't use this energy for photosynthesis. Interestingly, we know this even from the color of plants! White light contains all the colors, and plants appear green because they absorb the red light, leaving what appears to us as green light, to be seen by our eyes! If the light isn't being absorbed by the plant, it can't be used for photosynthesis!



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