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If you're lucky enough to be outdoors one night when the lightning bugs are putting on
a show, you can catch several of them in a jar and make a cool light lantern. (This jar needs holes
punched in the top, unlike your bug-catching jar.)
Putting the sealed jar in warm water will make the bugs glow even brighter. To
make a "tattoo," take one bug and squash its abdomen (that's the part that would be striped if the
bug was a bee), and rub it on your arm or forehead to make a Lightning bug tattoo. The luminescence
will last for about ten minutes or so and is not harmful, though you probably shouldn't lick it!
What you'll need:
- A clean glass jar with holes punched in its screw-on lid (use an awl, a screwdriver, or even a
can opener. But get an adult to help you!)
- A flashlight
What to do:
- Sit in a grassy place where you see the lightning bugs flickering and try and count out to
yourself one bug's pattern of flashes (these are the female bugs sending signals to the males, who
fly over head signaling back. Bugs from different regions of the country have different patterns.)
- Flick your flashlight off and on in more or less the same pattern as you counted out. Be
patient. Some male bugs should come looking for you pretty soon. Of course you can also swoop down
and catch the females who are just sitting there, but trying to attract the male bugs is a bit more
fun.
Why Lightning bugs glow:
The lightning bugs have a substance in their abdomens which is called luciferen.
"Luciferen reacts with Oxygen to produce light and carbon dioxide.(That's why your jar needs to
have holes in the lid.)The reactions gets some help from a chemical called Adenosine Triphosphate
(ATP) which you may have heard about in Biology. A lightning bug can actually control the rhythm of
the flashes by regulating the flow of Oxygen through its abdomen.
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