Question

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be changed from one form of energy to another. Chlorophyll is responsible for absorbing light energy so it can be converted to chemical energy through photosynthesis, but it cannot absorb all of the energy.

What do you think happens to the rest of the light energy?

Question 4 options:

Light energy not absorbed by plants is converted to oxygen and released into the environment.

Chlorophyll absorbs certain light wavelengths to convert and the rest is reflected back into the environment as green light energy.

Plants reflect extra light energy back into the environment in the form of heat energy.

Chlorophyll absorbs all the light energy, then the plants store the rest for use when it's dark and they don't have light energy to use for photosynthesis.

Answer 1

Chlorophyll absorbs certain light wavelengths to convert and the rest is reflected back into the environment as green light energy.

Step-by-step explanation:

Photosynthesis is a metabolic process unique to plant cells s well as other autotrophs. It is the process whereby light energy is converted to chemical energy as rightly said in the question. Photosynthesis occurs in two stages viz: light dependent stage and light-independent stage. Plants are able to carry out photosynthesis because of certain proteinous pigments called CHLOROPHYLL found in the Chloroplast of their leaves.

In the light dependent stage of photosynthesis, Chlorophyll captures energy from sunlight and uses it to synthesize ATP and NADPH molecules. However, plants can only make use of little energy from sunlight. This is because Chlorophyll absorbs certain wavelengths of light within the visible light spectrum. Chlorophyll pigment absorbs red and blue regions of light spectrum while it reflects the green region of the light spectrum.

The red and blue light it absorbs is the fraction the Chlorophyll converts for use. The green light is reflected and this forms the characteristic color of many green plants.