When a pigment molecule in a light-harvesting complex absorbs a photon of light, what happens to its excited-state electron?.
1 answer:
When a pigment molecule in a light-harvesting complex absorbs a photon of light, While returning to its ground state, the electron transfers some of the energy from its excited state to an electron in a nearby pigment molecule.
- It takes a photon of light energy some distance before it reaches a pigment molecule like chlorophyll.
- An electron in the chlorophyll is "activated" by the photon. The energy imparted to the electron then moves from one pigment molecule to another until it reaches the reaction center, a pair of chlorophyll a molecules.
- An electron in the reaction center is then excited by this energy, causing it to break loose and travel to the primary electron acceptor.
- Therefore, it is said that the reaction center "donates" one electron to the main electron acceptor.
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