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Article: FYI; It's really red and gold inside.(VARIETY)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- March 22, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Why are grass and most other plants green? Sure, they contain chlorophyll, which is green. But why is chlorophyll green? Why not blue or red? If the purpose of the stuff is to transform sunlight - from our yellow and orange sun - wouldn't it be more efficient for it to be yellow or orange in order to absorb the sun's energy more efficiently?
The question answers itself. Chlorophyll is green precisely because of the sunshine it absorbs. The molecule is built to suck up blue and red light - the short and long wavelengths at both ends of the visible spectrum.
Those happen to be exactly the wavelengths that chlorophyll needs to do its miraculous job of ...