Roughly how long does the captured energy take to reach the reaction centre after a chlorophyll is excited?
AAbout a whole single second
BAbout a whole single minute
CAbout a thousandth of a second
DAbout a millionth of a second
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. About a millionth of a second
1. Absorption of a single photon by any of the chlorophylls pushes that molecule into an excited state.
2. The energy is then transferred from chlorophyll to chlorophyll.
3. After about a millionth of a second it is delivered to the reaction centre.
4. Up to this point only energy has been transferred between molecules, not electrons.
5. The word about marks this as an approximate figure rather than a measured constant.
6. Answers of a second or a minute would make the process far too slow to track sunlight.
_Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 8 "Photosynthesis", section 8.2 The Light-Dependent Reactions of Photosynthesis_
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