We Finally Know How Photosynthesis Starts: It Takes Just a Single Photon

  • 📰 ScienceAlert
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 31 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 16%
  • Publisher: 68%

Malaysia Malaysia Headlines News

Malaysia Malaysia Latest News,Malaysia Malaysia Headlines

During photosynthesis, a symphony of chemicals transforms light into the energy required for plant, algal, and some bacterial life.

During a pulse, the first photon, called"the herald," was observed with a highly sensitive detector, signaling its partner photon's arrival, which interacted with LH2 molecules in a laboratory sample of the purple bacteria.

In nature, this energy transfer would continue until it started the process of photosynthesis. Finding a photon with a wavelength of 850 nanometers in the laboratory was a clear sign that that process had begun, especially as the LH2 structures were separated from other parts of the cell. "I think the first thing is that this experiment has shown that you can actually do things with individual photons,"Using a probability distribution model and a computer algorithm, the team analyzed over 17.7 billion herald photon detection events and 1.6 million fluorescent photon detection events.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 63. in MY

Malaysia Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Malaysia Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

One photon is all it takes to kick off photosynthesisScientists assumed that the reactions of photosynthesis begin upon the absorption of just one photon. But that hadn’t yet been demonstrated until now.
Source: ScienceNews - 🏆 286. / 63 Read more »