Name:___________

Date:____________

Photosynthesis & The Chloroplast

1. _____________ is the process by which the radiant energy from sunlight is converted
into chemical energy of ___________.
a. Glucose can be converted into many other molecules such as _____________ or
___________.

2. Plants use __________ molecules to capture sunlight and convert _____________ and
water into energy rich compounds

3. Complete the following diagram:

4. Photosynthesis occurs in the ______________organelle of all plant cells.

a. Within that organelle, each disk known as a ____________ is capable of
performing photosynthesis reactions.

5. Within the Chloroplast, individual thylakoid disks arrange in stacks know as __________.
Between the stacks, is a fluid space called the __________.
a. Thylakoid are membrane bound compartments each capable of performing
photosynthesis with the help of _____________ in their membrane.

6. Label the following diagram of a Chloroplast

Pigments
 Pigments and Absorption Graphing
7. Pigments absorb some wavelengths/colors of light and reflect others—the color our
eyes see is the color that the pigment absorbs/reflects (circle one).
a. Pigments in plant cells are located in the ______________ membrane.

8. ________________, chlorophyll b, and _________________are the most common

pigments inside the chloroplast that absorbs light for photosynthesis.

9. As the average temperature begins to decrees in the autumn, the leaves of tress begin
to turn yellow, brown, and red. You would expect that main reason for this is that the
pigments _________________ and ___________________ have started to decay,
leaving behind the __________________, which reflect yellow and red colors.

10. To better understand how various pigments are involved in light absorption, you have
designed an experiment and collected the following quantitative data. It’s difficult to
analyze or interpret in this form. Your task is to create a graph (on the following page)
that helps to understand, make sense of,
Chlorophyll A and Chlorophyll B and give meaning to (analyze!) this data.
Wavelength Chlorophyll A % Chlorophyll B % After plotting the data, color the graph
Absorption Absorption such that it corresponds to the
400 nanometers 32 8 color/wavelength of light.
425 nanometers 60 29
450 nanometers 10 62 Carotenoids
475 nanometers 3 51 Wavelength Carotenoids %
500 nanometers 0 8 Absorption
525 nanometers 0 0 400 nanometers 22
550 nanometers 4 3 425 nanometers 23
575 nanometers 2 4 450 nanometers 49
600 nanometers 4 2 475 nanometers 43
500 nanometers 55
625 nanometers 3 20
525 nanometers 34
650 nanometers 21 29
550 nanometers 0
675 nanometers 44 4
700 nanometers 12 0 575 nanometers 0
600 nanometers 0
Wavelength Color 625 nanometers 0
400 nanometers Violet 650 nanometers 0
425 nanometers Violet 675 nanometers 0
450 nanometers Blue 700 nanometers 0
475 nanometers Blue
500 nanometers Blue/green
525 nanometers Green
550 nanometers Green
575 nanometers Green/yellow
600 nanometers Yellow
625 nanometers Orange
650 nanometers Orange/red
675 nanometers Red
Questions to Investigate:
 What trends did you notice?

 Which pigment is able to absorbed the highest wavelength of light? What

color is this pigment to the human eye?

 Why might a plant benefit from having multiple types of pigment?

 Can a plant grow optimally in only green light? Why/why not?