(See, "glowing", get it?)
Fireflies are nifty.
I've never met anyone that doesn't like fireflies.
They are one of the select few that never have to pay their light bill, you know? Bioluminescence.
From Wikipedia:
The enzyme luciferase* acts on luciferin, in the presence of magnesium ions, ATP (adenosene triphosphate), and oxygen to produce light.
*Yes, as in Lucifer (light bringer)
"You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world..."
This song, entitled "Firefly" by the group Owl City, piqued my interest. How many fireflies would it take to REALLY light up the world? So, with the vast power of the internet gods at my disposal, I determined to find out. Turns out that 1 firefly weighs in at around 1/40 lumens. In other words, you'd need about 40 fireflies to equal the brightness of one candle. Woopee. In contrast the BIG YELLOW ONE which is the SUN, when measured in lumens,(which is a really dumb way of measurement by the way) trickles in at 6,840,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 lumens.
Soooo, if you were to light the world with fireflies, it would take(deep breath): 273,600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 fireflies!
Better get those old Ball jars out and get busy, because if you catch an average of 1,000 a night it would take you forever-to-the-"nth" power, dude...
Later
4 comments:
And going back to your improbable scenarios blog, if you catch 1,000 a night, how long will they live? So supposing they live for 7 days in a jar, how many people do you need each night each catching 1,000 fireflies to get up to the huge number?
Considering the BILLIONS of people living on the planet, I think we COULD do it. It's possible. Of course, this would be a worldwide effort, and for what purpose? No one would jump on board unless they knew a) the sun was going to burn out. b) fireflies' luminescence would last more than a fireflies' lifespan. So basically, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!
At least 5.
Just kidding.
Actually, the real number?
390,875,140,000,000,000,000,000,000 people.
That's 390 septillion, 875 sextillion, 140 quintillion.
Give or take a few billion, of course...
And then you have to consider that while the heat generated by a single firefly ignition (that's funny to say) might equal, oh... about nothing - when you stick that many fireflies in one place. Uh, I think everyone would burn up. And the fireflies with them.
"Get this on video people. Cause we're only gonna do this once."
Except that all the people who would disappear in the ball of fire pretty much equal the entire population of the planet. Times a lot.
So in reality, there would be no one in posterity to watch the video either. Maybe aliens will have fun sifting through the ashes. And trying to theorize what killed the human race.
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