Early Earth Was Purple, Study Suggests

The earliest life on Earth might have been just as purple as it is green today, a scientist claims.

www.livescience.com...

Ancient microbes might have used a molecule other than chlorophyll to harness the Sun’s rays, one that gave the organisms a violet hue.

Chlorophyll, the main photosynthetic pigment of plants, absorbs mainly blue and red wavelengths from the Sun and reflects green ones, and it is this reflected light that gives plants their leafy color. This fact puzzles some biologists because the sun transmits most of its energy in the green part of the visible spectrum.

“Why would chlorophyll have this dip in the area that has the most energy?” said Shil DasSarma, a microbial geneticist at the University of Maryland.


After all, evolution has tweaked the human eye to be most sensitive to green light (which is why images from night-vision goggles are tinted green). So why is photosynthesis not fine-tuned the same way?

Purple sounds a lot more fun than green.... I think I could get used to that. Although it may look a little weird from space. Has anyone seen the pic where they have manipulated this to make it purple. I know it has been done online.

Purple rain, purple rain! Purple rain, purple rai-ha-hain!

A thread on this topic already exists.

It can be found here.
Early Earth Was Purple

Originally posted by killswitch1982
Purple rain, purple rain! Purple rain, purple rai-ha-hain!

Purple Haze is in my brain...baby things just dont seem the same.
Lets just sit at the beach and watch the waves turn purple.

Originally posted by junglelord

Originally posted by killswitch1982
Purple rain, purple rain! Purple rain, purple rai-ha-hain!

Purple Haze is in my brain...baby things just dont seem the same.
Lets just sit at the beach and watch the waves turn purple.

`Scuse me while I kiss the sky!

[edit on 10-5-2007 by killswitch1982]