Photosynthesis Results (1)
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BIOL 1106 - Section #006
10/31/23
Results
In this lab, we performed experiments in order to observe certain components which play
an important role in photosynthesis. In our first experiment, we measured the pigments from
spinach and carrots to create an absorption spectra. We found that spinach pigment absorption
begins at its highest around 2.25 absorption with a wavelength of 400 (nm) and decreases to
about 1 with a wavelength of 800 (nm) by the end of the recording (Figure 1.). For carrots,
pigment absorption was at its highest in the beginning of the recording reaching 1.00 absorption
with a wavelength at 425(nm) and decreasing to about 0.1 absorption with a wavelength at 800
(Figure 2.).
Figure 1. Extraction of Spinach Pigments. The spectrophotometer mode was set on wavelength
(nm) and absorption.
BIOL 1106 - Section #006
10/31/23
Figure 2. Extraction of Carrot Pigments. The spectrophotometer mode was set on wavelength
(nm) and absorption.
In our second experiment we used the pigments from carrots and spinach leaves to show
the absorbance made on chromatography paper. The R
f
values were calculated for each pigment
by measuring how far it moved and dividing it by the solvent front moved (
Coleman, 2021).
For
spinach leaves Xanthophyll had the highest R
f
value with the solvent front reaching a distance of
.79, whereas phaeophytin has the lowest R
f
value reaching a solvent front at .41 (Table 2).
Carotenes were not present in chromatography paper (Table 2). Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b
had similar absorption values with Chlorophyll a only ending up with a little higher R
f
value
(Table 2). For carrots, the pigment Carotenoids had the greatest R
f
value, reaching an absorption
at 1.00, whereas Chlorophyll b traveled the least in the experiment, reaching an value of .25
(Table 3). Phaeophytin did not appear on the chromatography paper (Table 3).
Table 2 - Distance and R
f
values for the spinach leaves.
Distance
R
f
value
Chlorophyll a
71
.71
Chlorophyll b
69
.69
Xanthophyll
79
.79
Carotenes
-
-
Phaeophytin
41
.41
BIOL 1106 - Section #006
10/31/23
Solvent Front
100mm
1
Table 3 - Distance and R
₁
values for the carrots.
Distance
R
₁
value
Chlorophyll a
27
.27
Chlorophyll b
25
.25
Xanthophyll
55
.55
Carotenes
100
1
Phaeophytin
-
-
Solvent Front
100mm
1
Discussion Section
The events and activities of this lab took place on October 18th from 11:00 am to 2:00
pm in the General Biology 1 lab room (BEP 144) at the campus of The University of Texas at
Tyler. No known error occurred during this experiment. However, it's important to consider that
possible errors that can arise from results may be due to pigment distribution in the experiment.
In further research investigating
the spectral absorbance of photosystems and chloroplasts, the
author reported that the absorption of chloroplast is highly dependent on how the pigment
concentration is distributed before being measured (Kume, 2017).
According to the hypothesis, for examining the photosynthetic pigment in spinach and
carrots, absorption rates would absorb less light when the wavelengths were longer. This
hypothesis supports the results found in both Figures 1. and Figure 2. In both figures, similar
results were shown, where we see the absorption of light decrease as the wavelength becomes
longer. In a similar study done on
photosynthetic pigment molecules in leaves, their results
concluded that light absorption of photosynthetic pigments decreases nonlinearly while the
wavelengths become more spread out (Ye, 2012).
For activity C.2, paper chromatography was performed to find the
R
f
values of spinach
and carrots. According to the hypothesis for spinach, high amounts of chlorophyll a and b and
xanthophyll would be exhibited. Based on the results, the hypothesis is accurate with the finding
displayed in Table 1, as all three pigments traveled the furthest on the chromatography paper.
According to the hypothesis for carrots, we expected high amounts of carotenoids to be present,
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BIOL 1106 - Section #006
10/31/23
this was also supported by the results as Carotenes traveled the furthest on the chromatography
paper (Table 3).
The most important pigments utilized in photosynthesis are chlorophylls (chlorophyll a
and chlorophyll b) (Coleman, 2021). There are a variety of research experiments that are done
with this particular molecule. For example, in one research experiment, chlorophyll a and b were
tested for their influence on food composition and its relation to bioaccessibility, and the results
found the absorptions of chlorophyll maintained greater digestive stability than chlorophyll a
(Viera et al., 2022). This is an interesting finding because in our experiments, chlorophyll-a
showed greater absorption alone, but when taking into account other factors like how it may
digest, the research found chlorophyll-b was able to perform at greater stability. Chlorophyll a
plays a primary role in photosynthesis, whereas Chlorophyll b assists plants in absorbing light
(Coleman 2021). Accessory pigments work by absorbing the energy of photons and directing it
to reaction centers (Gupta et al., 2021). Accessory pigments such as carotenoids, phycobilins,
and various chlorophylls are important as they allow for more photosynthesis to occur in the
plant, without these pigments, less light would be absorbed (Häder, 2022).
BIOL 1106 - Section #006
10/31/23
Literature Cited:
Coleman, Jessica L. 2021
. Cell Properties & Processes
. 6th edition. Fountainhead Press &
TopHat
Gupta, A. K., Seth, K., Maheshwari, K., Baroliya, P. K., Meena, M., Kumar, A., Vinayak, V., &
Harish (2021). Biosynthesis and extraction of high-value carotenoid from algae.
Frontiers in
bioscience (Landmark edition)
,
26
(6), 171–190.
https://doi.org/10.52586/4932
Häder D. P. (2022). Photosynthesis in Plants and Algae.
Anticancer research
,
42
(10),
5035–5041. https://doi.org/10.21873/anticanres.16012
Kume A. (2017). Importance of the green color, absorption gradient, and spectral absorption of
chloroplasts for the radiative energy balance of leaves.
Journal of plant research
,
130
(3),
501–514.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-017-0910-z
Viera, I., Herrera, M., & Roca, M. (2022). Influence of food composition on chlorophyll
bioaccessibility.
Food chemistry
,
386
, 132805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.132805
Ye, ZP. Nonlinear optical absorption of photosynthetic pigment molecules in leaves.
Photosynth
Res
112, 31–37 (2012).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-012-9730-0