small exerpt from the book i'm writing, chapter 2.1: EXPLORING VARIETIES, QUANTIFYING PROPERTIES, AND DETERMINING OPTIMAL CONDITIONS OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENTS
""At its core, science is mathematics. Any reliable discovery must be quantifiable, because someone’s perception of the results will always be subjective. We couldn’t even get the internet to agree on whether a dress was black and blue, or white and gold; but 2 + 2 will always equal 4.
For any finding to be relied upon, it must also be replicable, meaning that the experiment can be conducted by anyone under the same conditions and produce the same results.* That’s where the scatter plots found in any reputable research paper comes from: repeated trials of the same experiment, proving that the results are a consistent pattern, and not a fluke.
As such, let’s start by discussing the four methods and concepts used to measure and quantify the photosynthetic efficiency of any given pigment. None of these will determine feasibility overall, because it says nothing with respect to, for example, the range of light that is optimal for a given pigment, just its efficiency in absorption at its optimal range of light.
These quantifiable aspects are:
Conjugation – in its simplest sense, conjugation is a means of ascertaining how much energy must be dumped into a specific molecule before it shoots out an electron in response. We can learn the level of conjugation by observing the pattern that arises via the order in which certain types of polar bonds (bonds in which the electrons of two separate atoms bind up and are shared by both atoms) appear in the molecular structure of a compound. Specifically with regards to single bonds (one electron from each of two atoms pair up) and double bonds (two electrons are donated by each atom).
In skeletal diagrams of molecules, polar bonds are illustrated as solid lines. One line indicates a single bond, while two parallel lines in close proximity indicate a double bond. By following these lines one to the next directly beside it, you can observe its level of conjugation. The longer the pattern of single-double-single-double-single-double..... goes unbroken, the higher the molecules conjugation.
Through electrical interactions we don’t need to discuss in depth here (though I encourage all interested parties to read further about this fascinating topic), the electrons within a conjugated region become “delocalized,” which means they can more freely move around without risking destabilizing the overall compound. This increases a pigment’s overall stability and allows electron ejection more freely.* Studies have also proven a direct correlation between an increase in the level of conjugation, and a broadening of the range of light the pigment can absorb.""
