Putting it into practice

Ben proving it is possible to read by bioluminescent light

We wanted to provide some proof of concept of these ideas. We built the bacterial bubble lamp to investigate this, and also read the Jungle Book using a flask containing E. coli expressing our bacterial luciferase.

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Modelling

Figure 1: The solar radiation spectrum for direct light at both the top of the Earth's atmosphere and at sea level.

Figure 2: The emission spectrum of V. Fischeri (shown in black)

Figure 3: Photopic (black) and scotopic (green) luminosity functions.

<math>F=683.002\ \mathrm{lm/W}\cdot \int^\infin_0 \overline{y}(\lambda) J(\lambda) d\lambda</math>

where

<math>F\,</math> is the luminous flux in lumens,

<math>J(\lambda)\,</math> is the spectral power distribution of the radiation (power per unit wavelength), in watts per metre.

<math>\overline{y}(\lambda)</math> (also known as <math>V(\lambda)\,</math>) is the standard luminosity function (which is dimensionless).

<math>\lambda\,</math> is wavelength in metres.

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Terrestrial Reference Spectra, a common standard used in photovoltaics

1,413 – 1,321W/m² "Chapter 8 – Measurement of sunshine duration" (PDF). CIMO Guide. World Meteorological Organization. http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/IMOP/publications/CIMO-Guide/CIMO%20Guide%207th%20Edition,%202008/Part%20I/Chapter%208.pdf. Retrieved 2008-12-01.