BIO 161 Lab Quiz 1

Why is chlorophyll green?

it absorbs orange wavelengths and transmits green + blue wavelengths

chlorophyll a

blue green

what part of the chromatography paper was used in the absorption spec

chlorophyll a

what was the spec used to do

determine which wavelengths of light are transmitted and absorbed by chloro a

what does a greater Rf mean?

greater Rf means greater distance traveled, and thus greater solubility of the pigment

what color did the acetone turn when chlorophyll a was crushed

green

when light passed through a chloro sample and our eye was positioned parallel to the light path, what color was observed? what does this demonstrate?

green transmittance

when is absorption by chlorophyll a highest/lowest

highest @ red wavelengths lowest @ green

fluorescence of chlorophyll

light is absorbed by pigments in an living plant the energy from that light is used for photosynthesis. When chlorophyll is extracted from a plant the pigment can still absorb energy but there is no productive way for that energy to be used. The light energy is therefore released taking the form of light. This process is called fluorescence.

what is the method used to separate pigments called? how can you quantify this?

paper chromatography retardation factor = distance pigment traveled/distance solvent traveled used to quantify the movements of pigments along paper

what are the main and accessory pigments in plants, and what are these pigments responsible for?

pigments: chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenes, xanthophylls pigments absorb light energy and convert this to chemical energy. accessory pigments (carotene and xanthophyll) make photosynthesis more efficient by absorbing light and transferring the energy to chlorophyll

when light passed through a chloro sample and our eye was positioned perpendicular to the light path what color was observed, and what does this demonstrate?

red due to the law energy of photons being emitted florescence

paper chromatography was used to...

separate the photosynthetic pigments carotene, xanthophyll, chlorophyll a and b in a spinach leaf

what was the difficulty of paper chromatography

some pigments did not fully separate (a and b)

chromatography of a spinach leaf revealed

that carotene is most soluble pigment and chlorophyll b is the least

absorption of chloro a was highest at colors and lowest at colors

violet + orange lowest: blue, green, yellow

chlorophyll b

yellow green

carotene

yellow, fast moving

xanthophyll

yellow, slow moving