Light of energy higher than blue damages pigment molecules in a process called:

1. Absorbed energy has to be low enough to excite an electron without breaking bonds. 2. Energy levels lower than those represented by red light are insufficient to raise an orbital electron to an excited state. 3. Energy levels higher than those in blue light will physically tear the molecules apart, called bleaching. 4. That upper and lower cutoff is exactly why the visible band is the useful one. _Source: OpenStax Biology for AP(R) Courses (CC BY 4.0), Ch 8 'Photosynthesis', sections 8.1-8.3_