Chemical reactions can create many diverse outcomes. One chemical reaction in particular has the ability to produce light. This reaction is called chemiluminescence. Chemiluminescence is the reaction between two products, in which a substantial amount of energy is gained. Some of this energy is then turned into photons to get back to ground state1. Today, chemiluminescene has great importance in our everyday life and is heavily relied on in fields such as criminology. With the use of luminol, a chemical which displays chemiluminescence when mixed with the proper reactants, forensic scientists are able to determine if there are traces of blood at a crime scene. This is due to the luminol being catalyzed by iron contained in the hemoglobin, which creates a light blue color. Chemiluminescence is also seen in nature, in insects and animals, such as fireflies and jellyfish. In this instance, it is instead called bioluminescence, since light is being created by living creatures. Contained in jellyfish, specifically the Aequorea Victoria (Crystal Jellyfish), are photoproteins. Photoproteins are bioluminescent proteins that are located in living creatures that are mixed with another reactant to produce a glowing light. There are multiple types of photoproteins. The ones found in Aequorea Victoria are called Aequorin. Aequorin is made up of two main components; coelenterazine and the apoenzyme apoaequorin. When the Ca2+ ion is released in the jellyfish, it reacts with the coelenterazine to produce coelenteramide and CO2 in an excited state. In consequence, blue light of 469 nm is released to bring the excited coelenteramide back to ground state.
I decided to focus my artwork on chemiluminescence in nature. I chose to do this because I found it very interesting how things in nature were able to produce light all on their own. To me, jellyfish are more visually appealing than fireflies are, which is what persuaded me to paint this creature instead. I wanted the core of my artwork to be the jellyfish itself, since this was supposed to be an art piece. Painting the jellyfish in blue was very important because it portrayed the color of light the jellyfish emits. Had I decided to paint the jellyfish red, it would mean that the wavelength of this particular wave would be between 620 and 750 nm. Those numbers are inaccurate and do not correspond to the actual wavelength of light emitted by these types of jellyfish.
I also included a periodic table as my background to make the connection between art and science even clearer. By bolding the elements H, C, N and O, I wanted the people looking at my piece to understand that those are the main components of coelenterazine. Without those elements, Aequorin would be non-existent. In the tentacles of my jellyfish, I put the reaction Ca2+ + Aequorin → blue GFP to show how the calcium ion reacting with the Aequorin produces blue light which eventually fades into a green light (GFP = green fluorescent protein). At the bottom of my artwork, I included the structures of coelenterazine and coelenteramide to give an even magnified look at how the reaction takes place.
To finish everything off, I coated the jellyfish, the elements H,C,N and O, and the structures at the bottom of my board with glow in the dark paint to add an extra touch.
1 "What Is Chemiluminescence? | Science in School." What Is Chemiluminescence? | Science in School. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.