Mechanisms of Chemiluminescence and Bioluminescence

Abstract

It would be surprising if there was a scientist active today who did not often find himself in a position of having to describe to a lay public, nay even to justify, the nature of his scholarly activity. Although the phenomenon which is the subject of this volume may be described as “Cold Light”, to the layman an explanation with reference to the flash of the firefly is usually more enlightening. A gas phase kineticist might hesitate however to use this example to represent his work since he might have in mind the difficulty of having to untangle collisions between these beetles at hyperthermal velocities.