BI110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Pineal Gland, Reactive Oxygen Species, Barn Swallow
Document Summary
1. 1a what is light: the reason there is life on earth, the sun converts over 4 million tonnes of matter into energy every second. This ener- gy is given off as electromagnetic radiation: scientists often distinguish different types of electromagnetic radiation by their wave- length, the distance between two successive peaks. Light is most commonly defined as the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can detect with their eyes. This is a very narrow portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is composed of a stream of energy particles called photons. Light is best understood as a wave of photons: the longer the wavelength, the lower the energy of the photon it contains. 1. 2 light as a source of energy: the potential energy of excited electrons within pigment molecules such as chlorophyll is used in photosynthetic electron transport to synthesize the energy rich compounds.
