system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How do fireflies produce such high amounts of light without producing any heat? Why hasn't man been able to reproduce such methods in modern lightbulbs?
gpt
Fireflies produce an enzyme called luciferase that uses energy from adenosinetriphosphate (ATP) and oxygen to convert a molecule called luciferine into an oxydized form while setting free energy.
This energy is emitted largely in the form of light and not heat.
That being said, we are able to reproduce that quite easily by using this enzmye and luciferine together in a testtube. But using this as a kind of lightbulb would be unefficient because it would require a steady supply of luciferine and some other compounds. Although the enzyme could theoretically work forever.