Photosynthesis Pigments
Question 1: What are the three types of photosynthetic pigments?
Answer:
The three types of photosynthetic pigments are chlorophyll, carotenoids and phycobilin.
Question 2: What is the main photosynthetic pigment?
Answer:
The main photosynthetic pigment is chlorophyll-a.
Question 3: Which pigment is present in a leaf of higher plants?
Answer:
The pigments found in the leaf are chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, carotenoids, and xanthophylls.
Question 4: What colour are different pigments on a chromatogram?
Answer:
Chlorophyll-a appears bright or blue-green in paper chromatography/chromatogram, chlorophyll-b as yellow-green/grass green, xanthophylls as yellow, and carotenoids as yellow to yellowish orange.
Photosynthetic Pigments
The process by which plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight into oxygen and energy in the form of sugar is known as photosynthesis. Autotrophic plants produce their own food through a process called photosynthesis. Sunlight, chlorophyll, CO2, and water are four crucial components needed for this process. The two steps of photosynthesis are the Light Reaction and the Dark Reaction.
- Light reaction: The initial stage of photosynthesis is the light reaction, in which solar energy is transformed into chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH. Protein complexes and pigment molecules both contribute to the synthesis of NADPH and ATP.
- Dark reaction: The dark reaction is also known as the carbon-fixing process. It is a light-independent mechanism that produces sugar molecules from carbon dioxide and water molecules. The dark reaction takes place in the stroma of the chloroplast, where the products of the light reaction are used.