Why is chlorophyll green? Isn't there a more energetically favorable color?

Question

Chlorophyll being green means it absorbs light in the red and blue area of the spectrum. Isn't this the high and low energy light? Wouldn't plants get more energy if they absorbed light in the green area of the spectrum instead of the red one?

Answer 1

There are actually a few different pigments in plants, green just tends to be the dominant one that we see. Most plants can actually absorb a range of wavelengths across the visible spectrum. In terms of energy, from what I understand, one electron only requires a single photon to become excited. As long as that electron moves to the next electron carrier in the chloroplast's electron transport chain, it doesn't matter how much "extra" energy there is. In fact, different pigments have different energies they are designed to absorb, so that one color of light might be just as effective as another, as long as the electron begins its journey.