Size and power of chlorophyll a molecule

Abstract

On the basis of literature and my calculations it was established that a chlorophyll (Chl) particle anchored with a phytol chain to the thylakoid membrane takes up about 1 nm2 of the surface area. At an irradiance of 287 W m-2 the leaves of cabbage seedlings become saturated with photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) thus reaching the maximum photosynthetic rate of 100 μg(C) m-2 s-1, that is 5 CO2 molecules per 1 nm2 per second, and the maximum power with which the Chl particle supplies the process of photosynthesis is 15 aJ.