Video Transcript
What is the name of the
photosensitive chemical found in many green plants? (A) Pinene, (B) cellulose, (C)
chlorophyll, (D) glucose, or (E) lignin.
In this question, we need to
identify which term describes a photosensitive chemical found in many green
plants. Photo- comes from the Greek word
for light. So a photosensitive chemical will
respond to light. Let us briefly describe the
photosynthesis chemical reaction process, and then we can determine the answer to
this question.
The equation describes how the
photosynthesis reaction process occurs in the chloroplasts of plant cells. You will notice that the reactants
are water and carbon dioxide and the products are glucose and oxygen. You should also note that the term
light is above the reaction arrow. We can see that the photosynthesis
reaction only occurs when there is light energy. So the reactants need chemical
energy to transform into oxygen molecules and glucose sugars.
This chemical energy can come from
a photosynthetic pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll captures energy from
sunlight, and this captured chemical energy can then drive photosynthesis reaction
processes in plant cells. It happens that most plants are
green specifically because they have chlorophyll that captures energy from
sunlight. The chlorophyll pigment primarily
captures high-energy and low-energy visible light and does not absorb medium-energy
green light. Leaves tend to look green
specifically because their chlorophyll does not absorb green light. This green light instead gets
reflected toward our eyes.
Therefore, the name of the
photosensitive chemical found in many green plants is (C), chlorophyll.
