How to leaves and light ?

[diamoneee]

I am a week into my leaves and light project (idea from science buddies). I could not get the marker to stay evenly on the transparency paper so I used colored window catcher tissue paper. After a week the leaves have not changed at all except for the leaves covered with black paper, they are turning yellow. Is this normal? I think that it doesn't matter what color of light is absorbed. Am I right or did I mess the experiment up? My mom asks- What about artificial light? Don't plants make food out of artificial light (grow lamps)? And does indirect light have a color spectrum? Thanks

[NanditaN425]

Hi and welcome to SciBuddies!

In the Leaves and Light Experiment, the procedure suggests transparent paper because the plant needs to be able to absorb the colored light of the colored transparent paper. If the tissue paper is not transparent, then some of that colored light would not be absorbed. If the tissue paper is transparent, then the plant should not be affected.

I would suggest that you maybe try the project with colored transparent paper,so that you can be certain that you have the best results. In order to make the coloring even, you could blend/ smudge the paper so that the color is distributed evenly.

Hopefully this helps
NanditaN425