how do fireflies light up?
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Fireflies or lightning bugs make light within their bodies. This process is called bioluminescence and is shared by many other organisms, mostly sea-living or marine organisms. Fireflies light up to attract a mate. To do this, the fireflies contain specialized cells in their abdomen that make light.\n\nThe cells contain a chemical called luciferin and make an enzyme called luciferase. To make light, the luciferin combines with oxygen to form an inactive molecule called oxyluciferin. The luciferase speeds up the reaction, which occurs in two steps:\n\n   1. The luciferin combines with adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is found in all cells, to form luciferyl adenylate and pyrophosphate (PPi) on the surface of the luciferase enzyme. The luciferyl adenylate remains bound to the enzyme:\n\n      luciferin + ATP -------------> luciferyl adenylate + PPi\n\n   2. The luciferyl adenylate combines with oxygen to form oxyluciferin and adenosine monophosphate (AMP). Light is given off and the oxyluciferin and AMP are released from the enzyme's surface:\n\n      luciferyl adenylate + O2 -------------> oxyluciferin +AMP + light\n\nThe wavelength of light given off is between 510 and 670 nanometers (pale yellow to reddish green color). The cells that make the light also have uric acid crystals in them that help to reflect the light away from the abdomen. Finally, the oxygen is supplied to the cells through a tube in the abdomen called the abdominal trachea. It is not known whether the on-off switching of the light is controlled by nerve cells or the oxygen supply.\n\nThe luciferin-luciferase chemical reaction has been used for years to measure the amount of ATP produced in cells and by various chemical reactions. Recently, the gene (section of DNA coding for the protein) for the luciferase enzyme has been isolated, placed in the genes of other organisms, and used to follow the synthesis and/or expression of other genes (i.e. used as a reporter gene).
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These galactic clouds only glow if there are hot stars to stimulate them. The gas in the cloud  glows in a way similar to the gas inside a fluorescent lamp, but it's ultraviolet light, not an electric current, providing the stimulation.  Typically, it is very hot O and B stars formed within the cloud that provide the stimulation.\n\nPortions of the gas cloud away from these bright stars are dark. You can see this in M42, the great Orion nebula. The dark areas in that nebula are actually parts of the cloud obscuring brighter parts of the same cloud behind them.
361367
atach a wire to each part of the batter, attach them to the light. create a circuit and you will have light
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get some batteries, get some wires, and a very small lightbulb and a socket. So it should look like this:\nBattery(+) ... wire ... paperclip ... lightbulb ... wire ... (-)Battery
212776
If you're asking if you can buy (or build) systems to fire your fireworks electrically, then the answer is yes. You can get either wired or wireless systems that can fire either electric matches (tiny chips coated with compound that burst into flame when electricity is run through them) or wrapped wire (basically, nichrome wire wrapped around the firework's fuse).\n\nBelow are some links that should be helpful :
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There are also species of fireflies that mimic the flashing patterns of other species - when an unsuspecting lightning bug arrives expecting to mate - the mimic kills and devours it.\n\nThe actual mechanism for producing the bioluminescence is a chemical known as luciferin. This is a generic name for the light-emitting pigments found in several organisms. There are several specific types of luciferin. When a firefly wishes to flash, it activates nerves that introduce luciferin into specialized cells. There, in the presence of the enzyme luciferase, luciferin converts to oxyluciferin and cool light.
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http://science.howstuffworks.com/lightning.htm
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the enzymes in glow worms is called luciferase. In cells, bioluminescent reactions occur between a protein known as a luciferin and oxygen, and are driven by an enzyme called a luciferase. The enzyme is the middleman whose job is to take raw luciferin "fuel" and react it with oxygen to make oxyluciferin, which then produces light.  In the first, the luciferin, when oxidised, produces a colour that is decided by the complex genetically determined nature of protein. In the second, the luciferin, the luciferase and the oxygen are all bundled up into a single photoprotein molecule. The energy that excites the light-giving electrons is transferred when the molecule is triggered by charged calcium atoms.\n\nSuch bioluminescence reactions are an example of the chemical elegance of living things, but they are also fascinating for another reason. Chemicals that produce something as harmless and as easily detectable as light within a cell could illuminate the inner workings of living things, given a little gentle tinkering. Genetic engineers have been doing just that.\n\nThey have isolated exactly how bioluminescent proteins produce a particular colour of light by examining the DNA that describes how to make the proteins. By altering this template, they are able to tailor-make their own light producing biomolecules.
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lights off...but candles lit.  but be careful...we don't want a fire...might ruin the moment.  Candles lit...or just a dim light because it's more flattering than a bright light.  (i need all the help i can get after having an 8 pound baby!)  you wanna be able to see something...that's why I need SOME light.\n\nhope that helps.
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St. Elmos Fire. Sometimes lighting will travel in ball form.\n\nSailors back in the old days used to see this happen a lot.
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they make colors usually white stand out more. if you have glow in the dark stuff it will make that stand out too
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Same principle as neon lighting.  With a neon light you have a gas with current passing through it causing it to emit off a light.  In this case it sounds like a concentration of whatever the specific gas happened to be in the air at the lightning strike, and what you saw was the gas emitting it's light.  Anyone happen to know what gas gives off green light in neon lights?
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Fireflies produce a protein called "luciferin" which can be chemically modified (oxidized) by another protein called "luciferase".  When this reaction occurs, energy is released in the form of light.  This phenomenon is known as "bioluminescence" and occurs in many different species.
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It sounds as though it is most likely the highly luminous Click beetle (Family Elateridae) Pyrophorus noctilucus, as several others have already mentioned.\n\nThis beetle, sometimes also called the Fire Beetle, has two bioluminescent patches on its pronotum, behind the head, that look somewhat like glowing eyes or headlights.  Allegedly they can be bright enough to read by.\n\nPyrophorus noctilucus is native to Central and South America, so it is not outside the realm of possibility that one could show up in South Florida.\n\nInterestingly enough, this critter in giant form is the basis of one of the classic Dungeons & Dragons critters, the Fire Beetle, found in the original Monster Manual.  (OK, maybe that's not that interesting unless you are as geeky as I am).
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Take a little ball, and put a dot on it with a magic marker or a crayon.  Now turn on a light and put the ball close to it with the dot facing the light bulb. The half of the ball with the dot on it is lit, right?  The half without the dot is in shadow. Now, slowly turn the ball and watch the dot.  As you turn the ball, notice that the dot turns with it and goes into the shadow. The light bulb is the sun, the ball is the earth, and the dot is you. When the dot faces the "sun" and it's lit up, that's daytime.  When the dot faces away and is in shadow, that's night.  The earth turns just like the ball, and just like the ball, whenever it's night for you, it's day for the people who live on the other side. When it's day for you, it's night for them. That's why we have day and night.
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you need three things to create a flame:  heat, oxygen, and fuel.  In the air, you have oxygen.  The phosphorous is the fuel, so if you apply a heat source, you will see a flame.  I don't know what makes a firefly glow.
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They tend to be either vibrating models (vibrating pillows) or strobe.  Like the doorbell/telephone, strobe lights work very well in this application.