Chromatography Lab Report

This disagreement was about the pigments located in the stems and veins of a plant and the pigments located in the green portion of a leaf. Jan believed that only the stems and veins contained all of the important pigments except for chlorophyll. She believed that the green portion of the leaf would not contain all these other pigments. Mark, on the other hand, believed that the same pigments were also located in the green portion even though they were not visible. In order to determine who was right, two tests were conducted. The first tested conducted was the paper chromatography test. In this test, samples of both the green portion of the leaf and stem of a beet were turned into liquid samples. Portions of the both samples were then added …show more content…
It also indicated the stem portion of the leaf contained Xanthophyll 1 and Xanthophyll 2. These results can lead to the conclusion that the same pigments, except for chlorophyll, are present in both the green portion of a leaf and a stem. The second test indicated that the green portion of a leaf did not absorb values of 510 nm though 640 nm, which are green wavelengths. Since plants reflect the colors they do not absorb, this data makes sense. It does not have a high absorbance value, meaning that it does not absorb those wavelengths. The second test also indicated the stem portion of the beet (red) did not absorb values between 510 nm through 640 as well as values between 670 and 740 nm. The second set of values are wavelengths of red, which is why the stems are red. The stems reflect the wavelengths they do not absorb, in this case, red. This can lead to the conclusion that both extracts contain the same pigments since they are both not reflecting the same light. As a result, these tests both indicate that Mark was correct since he had stated that both the green portion of a leaf and the stem contain the same pigments other than