A researcher claims that only a portion of the light energy captured by green plants is available for growth and repair. Which of the following observations best helps justify the researcher’s claim?

This question lacks options, the options are:

A) Light-capturing pigment molecules in green plants absorb red, blue and violet light but reflect green light.

B) The energy of a photon of light is proportional to its frequency and inversely proportional to its wavelength

C) As light energy is converted to chemical energy by metabolic processes, some of the energy is lost as heat

D) Captured energy is stored in the molecular bonds of organic molecules, including simple sugars and starch

The answer is:

As light energy is converted to chemical energy by metabolic processes, some of the energy is lost as heat.

Explanation:

Green plants are capable of synthesizing their own food via a process called photosynthesis. The photosynthetic process uses light energy from the sun to form organic chemicals necessary for the growth and repair of plant tissues.

Plants are able to capture light energy from the sun using their chlorophyll pigment. Out of this captured energy, only a portion of the light energy captured by green plants is available for growth and repair. This is because as light energy is converted to chemical energy (stored in chemical bonds) by metabolic processes, some of the energy is lost as heat.