I had saw somewhere that a habitable planet orbiting a g type star same as our own could have yellow plants so could it?
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4$\begingroup$ Does this answer your question? Would plants on a planet orbiting a star like ours, have any different color? the answer to plant color questions is always the same, plants can be whatever color you want, the color of plants is due to a quirk of chance. $\endgroup$– JohnCommented Oct 9, 2023 at 0:46
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$\begingroup$ I Just wanted to say I read "Could a planet orbiting a g type main sequence star have blue pants on its surface?" and I bawled out a laughter at work. $\endgroup$– Or4ng3h4tCommented Oct 9, 2023 at 8:30
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$\begingroup$ Whats so funny about the title? Why does everybody on this sight get there panties in a bunch over words? $\endgroup$– Jerry RobinsonCommented Oct 9, 2023 at 9:01
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$\begingroup$ @JerryRobinson because words are the main interface we have here. The comment you're responding to is about misreading "plants" as "pants". Please don't change your question after people have started posting answers to it; if you need to make sweeping changes, it would be better to ask a new question. $\endgroup$– Starfish PrimeCommented Oct 9, 2023 at 9:03
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$\begingroup$ OHHH my mistake $\endgroup$– Jerry RobinsonCommented Oct 9, 2023 at 9:04
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It would be an odd colour to be.
There are plenty of pigments that absorb the high-energy blue and violet photons. A high-energy photon can promote an electron to another energy state, where a lower energy on may not be able to. This energy transition can be destructive: many materials go yellow with age, but hardly anything goes blue.
Chlorophylls and carotenoids are the two major classes of photosynthetic pigments found in plants and algae. All of these use the high-energy blue light, but reflect the green. The chlorophylls also absorb deep red light which is why plants look green, or blue-green for some algae; though I don't think the red wavelengths are used. The carotenoids do not absorb red, so they can look yellow or orange. And we can add another dye to absorb these wavelengths, which is why some plants appear black.
On a different planet, something may evolve to use green and red, and maybe reflect blue. There is an unproven theory that the S-Opsin that we use to see blue light may have been a precursor to photosynthesis. It is certainly shared by most multicellular life, where the others are all recent inventions. If so, then life on earth has chosen to use blue three times if we cont the carotenoids and chlorophylls as separate processes.
A life form can be any colour, but why blue? This would mean it reflected the high-energy photons that are the easiest to turn into energy. To do this it would use a dye, pigment or interference film that reflects blue, which is not natural, and may not be permanent as things tend to go yellow.
It is hard to generalise. We only have one world as an example of how it is done. We have no blue plants, which is why it looks 'alien' and makes a good Sci-Fi book cover. But, on the limited information we have, a blue plant seems to be doing everything the hard way.
answered Oct 9, 2023 at 8:19
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$\begingroup$ Welp i can always make the plants yellow so theres that $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 9, 2023 at 8:20
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$\begingroup$ Chlorophyll is dark. It absorbs all light, but it just happens to absorb red light more than green or blue, and blue a little more than green. Or, in other words, in reflects green light a little more than blue, and blue much more than red. But, on the balance, it is dark and absorbs a lot more light than it reflects. (Ah, and Rhodophytes do exist. The Rhodophyceae are actually the sister group of the green Viridiplantae.) $\endgroup$– AlexPCommented Oct 9, 2023 at 8:26
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$\begingroup$ @JerryRobinson: Xanthophytes and Phaeophytes do exist. And Rhodophytes too... It so happened that our familiar land plants are descended from green algae. $\endgroup$– AlexPCommented Oct 9, 2023 at 8:33
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$\begingroup$ Yellow plants are a go then $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 9, 2023 at 8:57
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$\begingroup$ @JerryRobinson Red, orange, yellow, green all fine for gathering energy. Blue for flowers. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 9, 2023 at 11:23