Warning Lights
This image was captured on our recent trip to Mesa, Arizona while we were looking for scorpions using a black light. I selected it because It is also an example of energy transfer. Some types of scorpions have the strange trait of being able to glow under the influence of UV light. It comes from a special layer in their exoskeleton called the hyaline layer. Not much is really known about what sort of process actually causes this ghostly glow, other than somehow energy is being transformed into actual visible light. Some possibilities are that it absorbs the energy from the UV light and converts it into visible light, or it could also release visible light as some sort of reaction to the UV rays. Some scientists believe that the purpose of this glow is to alert the scorpion when it is not being covered. The UV rays could come from either the sun or its reflection against the moon, perhaps triggering some sort of chemical reaction inside the scorpion and alerting it. This is an example of energy transfer because whether the glow comes from a chemical reaction triggered by the UV light, or from the scorpion somehow recycling it into visible light, the energy is somehow being changed into the bioluminescent light that we see. Either way, the process results in an impressive blue-green glow and makes it a lot easier to find these small predators at night.
Ben Schmitz
Description
Essay Title: Warning Lights
Category: Natural
Photo Number: 6059
School: Minnetonka High School
Teacher Name: Kimberly Hoehne