Why are leaves green?

[Linn]

normal that plants " want" as much energy from the sun as possible. Now if all that`s right, than why are they reflecting the most valuable wavelengths of the suns light-rays? Other words WHY ARE THEY GREEN?

I dont really understand this myself. YET
This is hard to understand and explain.

It has to do with the pigments absorbtion spectrum that is for that type of plant. as well as different arrangments

I expect that it has something also to do with plants becoming darker or different colored in lower light or deep shade. perhaps to do with carbon/oxygen ratio?

Most plants chlorophyll is green so obviously that is a factor Then you have red and purple plants which reflect those colors..

I will have to do some googling i guess or text book reads.

[MrMistery]

aaahhh... the ultimate question in botany. Eventually comes down to why are plants green?
Well, the answer is very complex actually. plants are green because chlorophyll reflects green light and absorbes red and blue light. But why does it work like that? The answer- evolution. During the day, in bright sunlight it doesn't matter what the absorbtion spectrum is, because all colors are present. But in the morning and in the evening red light is present as the majority of photons making up the spectrum of the sun. And blue light? Well, since the energy of blue light is the highest, blue light is the only one that can pass through clouds. So you see, it is very important for plants to be green.

[Linn]

aaahhh... the ultimate question in botany. Eventually comes down to why are plants green?
Well, the answer is very complex actually. plants are green because chlorophyll reflects green light and absorbes red and blue light. But why does it work like that? The answer- evolution. During the day, in bright sunlight it doesn't matter what the absorbtion spectrum is, because all colors are present. But in the morning and in the evening red light is present as the majority of photons making up the spectrum of the sun. And blue light? Well, since the energy of blue light is the highest, blue light is the only one that can pass through clouds. So you see, it is very important for plants to be green.

I must save this answer for my notes you explained it well

[MrMistery]

Glad to be of some help. This is the question i ask teachers when i want to humiliate them

[Linn]

Ya I found out that there is a lot not yet understood in botany. Things my professor couldnt answer.

[biology_rox_my_jox]

because god made them that way...gees

[canalon]

because god made them that way...gees

Interesting answer, but do you have more scientific background and experiments to back up your quite short explanation?

[MrMistery]

Thank you for enlightening me.

[efendy]

I dont think that more answers are needed since chris4 explained it very well subsequently.
But, as an addition, energy at around 380 nm is 3.1 electron volt whereas it is around 1.8 eV at above 700 nm. This proves that violet - blue range is the most energetic in visible region.
cheers

[MrMistery]

yes it is, but it does not matter. The plant can gain the same amount of energy from any photon, regardless of the actual energy it has. That is why blue light is said to be used by plants most ineficiently. Because blue light has a high energy, and the plant takes only a small part of it.

[diamndprncss]

Leaves on green because the sky is blue.

[MrMistery]

Brilliant!