Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

As a scientist, do you think I should base my hypothesis on how green the vegetable looks?
Would this be a reasonable hypothesis? = "I think ___ contains the most chlorophyll because it looks greenest."

That is an interesting and valid hypothesis!

Make sure you do some background research to support why you would think greener veggies would have more chlorophyll. Also, you will need to have a way to document how one veggie is greener than another. This could be considered subjective (different people having different opinions), so you need to have photos or some kind of color scale to help you determine which veggie is greener than the next.

Hope that helps!

Heather

Yes, it does help. Thank you.

Do you mind telling me your last name? cuz my assignment was to contact a scientist

My name is Heather Liwanag.

Good luck with your assignment!

I think that is a valid hypothesis.

Of course, there is more that meets the eye

I suggest also doing something called a Thin Layer Chromatography. Long story short, you can
grind up your veggies into a liquid and separate the plant pigments and determine
what has chlorophyll and what other other pigments it may have.

Here are some resources:

http://courses.chem.psu.edu/chem36/Chem ... %20TLC.pdf

http://isite.lps.org/sputnam/AdvancedCh ... yllLab.pdf

http://www.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaete ... -TLC-e.htm

Additionally, chlorophyll fluoresces (they light up). You can use a flourometer to make optical measurements.

http://www.ysi.com/media/pdfs/T606-The- ... rement.pdf

I hope that helps!