Photosynthesis



Photosynthesis

Introduction

Photosynthesis is referred to a process that is used mainly by plants and a number of other organisms for the conversion of light energy. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants and algae turn sunlight and nutrients into energy. The pigments in the leaves of plants or algae cells capture the sunlight to fuel the reaction, there would be no such pigments photosynthesis and, without it, there would be no oxygen produced as a byproduct. In normal conditions, the light energy from the sun is converted into chemical energy that could be further used for energizing the activities of the involved organisms. Carbohydrates including sugars are synthesized from water and carbon dioxide (Hall, 1999).

In addition to this, oxygen is also released in this process as a waste product. There are numerous plants that perform the process of photosynthesis and are known as photoautotroph's. It is significant that photosynthesis plays a vital role in maintaining the levels of atmospheric oxygen and supplies all of the organic compounds and the amount of energy required for all the lives on earth. The core focus of this paper is to present the reactions of light and the absence of light on plants during the process of photosynthesis. The following discussion will be based on the conducted experiments to explore the impact on plants in the presence and absence of light during photosynthesis (Silverstein, 2008).

A pigment is a substance composed of molecules that reflect or transmit visible light or do both things at once. The color of a pigment depends on the selective adsorption of certain wavelengths of light and reflects others. For example, chlorophyll, the plant pigment, adsorb light in the violet and orange zone to the red zone of the spectrum. Convert this light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis and light reflection on the green and the yellow part of the spectrum, in this way, chlorophyll appears green (Raghavendra, 2000). In chemistry, the pigments are natural or artificial, water-insoluble, which are applied to various objects to discover a colored surface at the same time protecting them from external agents. The pigments or colors are not applied directly, usually mixed with varnish. Mixtures of colors and varnishes are paints in its many varieties.

Chlorophylls are the most natural pigments found in plants and occur in the chloroplasts of leaves and other plant tissues. The studies are performed in a wide variety of plants chlorophyllian show that the pigments are the same. The apparent differences in the color of the plant are due to the presence and distribution of other pigments such as carotenoids, which always accompany the chlorophylls (Raghavendra, 2000). The pigments can cover the chlorophyll, giving the leaf a different color, but that does not mean that other uses pigment for photosynthesis. The green color that is found in most vegetables is the pigments present in the chloroplast, called chlorophyll. This is because these pigments absorb light mainly in the blue wavelengths, violet, red and reflects green ...