Chlorophyll does not reflect green light - how to correct a misconception

Plant leaves are green because they contain the green photosynthetic pigments, chlorophylls a and b. Popular science literature, and sometimes even textbooks, state that the greenness is caused by reflection of green light by chlorophyll. In the present study, we compared the reflectance spectra of...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of biological education Jg. 56; H. 5; S. 552 - 559
Hauptverfasser: Virtanen, Olli, Constantinidou, Emanuella, Tyystjärvi, Esa
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: London Routledge 20.10.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Schlagworte:
absorbance
Chlorophyll
Color
Elementary Secondary Education
green
green leaves
Light
Misconceptions
Optics
Plants (Botany)
reflectance
Science Instruction
Scientific Concepts
visible light
ISSN:0021-9266, 2157-6009
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Abstract Plant leaves are green because they contain the green photosynthetic pigments, chlorophylls a and b. Popular science literature, and sometimes even textbooks, state that the greenness is caused by reflection of green light by chlorophyll. In the present study, we compared the reflectance spectra of green leaves to yellow or white leaves of the same species. Chlorophyll-deficient leaves reflected green light more efficiently than green leaves of the same species, which conclusively refutes the misconception. The data show that the green colour of leaves is caused by preferential absorption of blue and red light by chlorophyll, not by reflection of green light by chlorophyll. The data suggest that the cellulose of the cell walls is the main component that diffusely reflects visible light within plant leaves.
AbstractList Plant leaves are green because they contain the green photosynthetic pigments, chlorophylls a and b. Popular science literature, and sometimes even textbooks, state that the greenness is caused by reflection of green light by chlorophyll. In the present study, we compared the reflectance spectra of green leaves to yellow or white leaves of the same species. Chlorophyll-deficient leaves reflected green light more efficiently than green leaves of the same species, which conclusively refutes the misconception. The data show that the green colour of leaves is caused by preferential absorption of blue and red light by chlorophyll, not by reflection of green light by chlorophyll. The data suggest that the cellulose of the cell walls is the main component that diffusely reflects visible light within plant leaves.
Audience Elementary Secondary Education
Author Virtanen, Olli
Tyystjärvi, Esa
Constantinidou, Emanuella
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  givenname: Emanuella
  surname: Constantinidou
  fullname: Constantinidou, Emanuella
  organization: University of Surrey
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  givenname: Esa
  orcidid: 0000-0001-6808-7470
  surname: Tyystjärvi
  fullname: Tyystjärvi, Esa
  email: esatyy@utu.fi
  organization: University of Turku
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2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
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SubjectTerms absorbance
Chlorophyll
Color
Elementary Secondary Education
green
green leaves
Light
Misconceptions
Optics
Plants (Botany)
reflectance
Science Instruction
Scientific Concepts
visible light
Title Chlorophyll does not reflect green light - how to correct a misconception
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