Explain why plants need a variety of pigments to carry out photosynthesis?
flora must be conscious of distinctive wavelengths of light which each and each and each soak up terrific at a definite pigment. this would enable the main potential to be transfered to the plant with a vast spectrum of light.
In photosynthesis plants make their which is a carbohydrate i.e. a compound of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. That carbohydrate is glucose (C6H12O6). The chemical equation of photosynthesis is : 6CO2 + 12H2O = C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O Here water, carbon dioxide and light (light gives the energy to prform the reaction) helps to form chains of carbohydrate that further makes sucrose, a type of sugar, which can be utilized by plants as food.
It is particularly obvious in seaweeds. The pigment employed by the plant will vary according to the light available, so that seaweeds in shallow water tend to be green but those from deeper water are brown and then, where light levels are really low, seaweeds are red. In most of these cases photosynthesis is still carried out by chlorophyll but the associated pigments help with the absorption of the available light.
Each pigment in the leaf absorbs only a very narrow range of wavelength. In order to make use of more light than one specific wavelength, then plants have several different pigments. Chlorophyll A and Chlorophyll B intercept wavelengths from roughly 400-500 nm and then again from 650-700 nm. There are several different carotenoid pigments, each intercepting a pretty specific wavelength. I think these are within 450 - 510 nm. You have a high rate of photosynthesis in the blue range and then again in the red range. (I wasn't able to find a very good image that explains this clearly, but the sources listed below do a decent enough job.) Green light and most of the yellows will be reflected and not used by the plant. Keep in mind that while phytochrome is a pigment, it is not involved in photosynthesis.
