Assignment 1

The visible light spectrum consists of many colors of light of different wavelengths, ranging from 380 nm to 750 nm; however, not all colors of light are equally effective at stimulating photosynthesis in plant leaves. This assignment is designed to investigate the influence of light quality on photosynthesis in corn.


1 .		Based on what you already know about photosynthesis, which colors of visible light are most effective for photosynthesis in plants? Which colors of visible light are least effective for photosynthesis? Why are some colors more effective than other colors?

2 .		Develop a hypothesis to predict the effect of changing light quality from white light to red, green, and blue light on photosynthetic rates in corn.

3 .		What effect does light quality have on the rate of photosynthesis? Which colors of light were most effective at stimulating photosynthesis? Can you relate your results to the absorption spectra of the photosynthetic pigments?