10 ESSENTIALS: 10 – Herbs + Plants

Chlorophyll Enhancement

Plants interact with light through a completely different biological system than humans and animals. At the system’s center is chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for absorbing light energy during photosynthesis.

Chlorophyll does not absorb every wavelength equally. Its absorption varies across the visible spectrum, which is one reason wavelength matters in plant biology just as it matters elsewhere in light science. (1,2)

A Unique Feature

The visible wavelengths in the Blue Honest PRO VX laser system overlap portions of the spectrum involved in chlorophyll absorption and plant photobiology. (See Essential 3 – Wavelengths + Nanometers.) This gives the system a broader visible spectrum than devices built only around red and near infrared light.

Plants + Sunlight

Plants depend on light to drive photosynthesis, but the response is influenced by the spectrum, intensity and duration of that light.  Blue and red regions of the visible spectrum are particularly important in photosynthetic light absorption, while different plant pigments absorb light differently across the spectrum. (1,2)

Energy Absorption

When chlorophyll absorbs light, that energy helps drive the reactions plants use to convert light into usable chemical energy. This process forms the foundation of photosynthesis. (1)

Chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b absorb light differently across the visible spectrum, which is one reason the wavelength chart is useful here. The plant application of light is its own area of science. It should not be treated as though plants and human tissue respond to light in the same way.

What connects them is the underlying principle at the center of the 10 Essentials: Wavelength matters because biological systems interact with light selectively.

Research & References

(1) Alberts B, et al. Molecular Biology of the Cell. The Light Reactions of Photosynthesis. NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26819/

(2) Ultrafast dynamics of chlorophyll a. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3175064