Laboratory 6 Answer Sheet

Student’s Name: Addison Freeman Lab Section: 30 Date of lab: 10/18/17

Lab title: Photosynthesis- The Energy Source of Life

Part 1.

1. Describe the five spectrograms in writing.

Spinach Extract: This spectrogram had the absorbance levels of between .5 and 1.0
between the wavelengths of 400-420 nm and between 600-690 nm and levels of .5 and 0 between
the wavelengths of 450-650. There were to peaks at 410 nm and 650 nm.

Green Food Coloring: This spectrogram had absorbance levels of between .5 and 1.0
between the wavelengths of 400-420 and 620-650 nm. It had levels of between .5 and 0 between the
wavelengths of 420-620. There was a peak at 600 nm.

Red Food Coloring: This spectrogram had absorbance levels of between .5 and 1.0 be-
tween the wavelengths of 400-490 nm and 530-600 nm and levels of between .5 and 0 between the
wavelengths of 490-530 and 600-620 nm. There were peaks at 430 nm and 580 nm.

Blue Food Coloring: This spectrogram had absorbance levels of between .5 and 1.0
between the wavelengths of 630-650 nm and levels of between .5 and 0 between the wavelengths of
400-630 and 650-900 nm. There was a peak at 640 nm.

Mixed Food Coloring: This spectrogram had absorbance levels of between .5 and 1.0
between the wavelengths of 410-450 and 570-590 nm and levels of between .5 and 0 between the
wavelengths of 400-410, 450-570 and 590-900 nm. There were peaks at 580 nm and 630 nm

2. Insert the five spectrograms here, all appropriately numbered, titled, and labeled.

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Figure 1.1: Absorbance values for spinach extract at different wavelengths

Figure 1.2: Absorbance levels of Green Food Coloring at different wavelengths

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Figure 1.3: Absorbance levels of Red Food Coloring at different wavelengths

Figure 1.4: Absorbance levels of Blue Food Coloring at different wavelengths

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Figure 1.5: Absorbance levels of Mixed Food Coloring at different wavelengths

3. Explain how the spectrophotometer can be used to identify and measure the absorbances
of pigments in solution.
A Spectrophotometer shines specific wavelengths of light through a solution to measure
how much light is absorbed by the solution or substance. The measurements of light absorbed are
called absorption values and can be plotted to form a curve called an absorption spectrum. Each
substance has a specific absorption spectrum and examining it can tell you what substances are pre-
sent in the solution and if anything has contaminated the solution. When trying to identify a pigment
or solution it is important to look at where the peaks and valleys are not how high the peaks are or
how low the valleys are. How high or low the peaks and valleys are tell you how concentrated the
solution is.

4. Examine your data and answer the following regarding the results of this activity.

a. What wavelengths are absorbed the most by the spinach extract?

The wavelengths of 410 nm and 650 nm are most absorbed by the spinach extract.

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 b. What colors of the spectrum correspond to the wavelengths absorbed and those not
absorbed?
When we shine a beam of light at a substance that absorbs a certain color of light, this
color’s compliment color is what we see or what is reflected. For example if we shine a beam of
white light at a substance that absorbs red light (800 nm), the color that gets reflected and that
we see will be a blue-green color, red’s compliment color. A substance that absorbs blue light
(435 nm) will reflect a yellow color, if the substance absorbs violet light (400 nm), a yellow-
green color will be reflected, a substance that absorbs green light (495) will reflect a purple color,
a substance that absorbs yellow light (560 nm) will reflect a blue color and a substance that
absorbs orange light (650 nm) will reflect a green-blue color.

c. How does this data compare with your expectations? You may wish to quickly graph
the data with Microsoft Excel to answer this question.
This data did not exactly compare with my expectations. I thought that blue light would
have the highest rate and green light would have the lowest rate but after creating the action spec-
trums of all four lights it was found that white light had the highest rate of photosynthesis and green
light had the lowest rate of photosynthesis. My prediction was correct on one end of the experiment
but not the other.

d. What evidence is there that the absorption spectrum contains pigments other than chlo-
rophyll? How could you test for this? Carotene is orange, xanthophyll is yellow. Pro-
pose an experiment using different colored tree leaves.
Carotenoids absorb violet-blue light, so on a spectrogram for a carotenoid the curve
would be mostly between 350 nm and to 530 nm, with a peak right around 450 nm. We can tell
that the absorption spectrum contains other pigments besides chlorophyll because of this. Chloro-
phyll a and b are not in the 350-380 nm range, chlorophyll a starts to show up on the spectrogram
just around 380 nm and the absorbance levels are very low.
One way we could test for this is to test different pigments of leaves, start with chlorophyll
a and b and include carotenoids, lycopene in red plants and vegetables and beta carotene in orange
plants or vegetables. We would then use a spectrophotometer to see the absorbance levels for these
pigments and plot them on a spectrogram to see where they fall on the absorption spectrum.
For an experiment we could get different colored leaves, perhaps green, orange and red and
prepare them like we did in lab 6 below. We could then put the solutions of each leaf color in a cu-
vette and put the cuvette in the SpectroVis Plus to see where each color lands on the absorption
spectrum via a spectrogram. We will be able to tell what pigment is in each leaf by examining
where the curve falls on the x-axis or wavelength.