The Night of the Fireflies

This is our Bright Art Challenge project, The Night of the Fireflies. It might seem like a painting, but it is actually a 3-dimensional centerpiece that can be placed on a table. It is powered by rechargeable flashlights which can charge separate from the centerpiece. The centerpiece portrays fireflies in the night that light up. One light-matter interaction that happens in our project is the absorption of light. The light waves transmitted from the LED flashlights fall onto the canvas and walls of the display. The canvas and foam walls all absorb some of the light waves and reduce their intensity. Another light-matter interaction that occurs in this painting is diffusion. When a light wave strikes a smooth surface, most or all of the wave is reflected back in a similar concentration. Though, if the surface the light strikes on is rough, the light will be reflected, but in different directions due to the angle of the irregularities. This scatters the light and is therefore called diffusion. In our project, the light waves from the LED flashlight strike the foam walls and canvas and some of the light waves are reflected off of them. Since the canvas and walls aren’t very smooth, the light is actually scattered and diffusion occurs.