>> The chemical reaction behind it is apparently understood, since genetic
>> engineers apparently use biolunimescence all the time as a marker during

>> chemicals does not. At worst the chemicals just stop working.
>>
> Never seen light sticks? That is bioluminescence in a nut shell, and 
> they make tons of them.

Really? I thought the chemicals were designed by man...

>> A far more serious problem is that the reaction is driven by chemical
>> rather than electrical energy. If you can find a way around that you've
>> got a viable product.
>>
> This is why its not usable. And, yeah, if you could.. Problem is, most 
> "reversible" processes of the sort require state changes in the 
> chemicals, and more energy to "recharge" them. A good example are those 
> pouch things you can buy for reusable warmers.

I've got several.

Batteries store and release energy without a change of phase. Obviously 
recharging any kind of system requires extenal energy, but a phase 
change isn't required.

> When it stops making heat, you boil/microwave it again

The instructions specifically tell you to *not* microwave them. There's 
a metal strip in there, remember?

> Pretty much... Anything using 
> electrical energy is pretty much going to have to use a non-biologic 
> source. The reason being a) biologic ones won't last recharge/reuse for 
> long, or at high temperatures,

Now *that* could be an actual problem. Presumably biological systems 
that bioluminesce have processes in place to continuously replace the 
reactants (so they probably haven't evolved to be especially stable).

> and b) there are no known forms that can 
> react to electrical energy in such a manner, never mind efficiently, by 
> compared to semi-conductors.

I'm not sure this is correct. Many biological organisms use electricity 
(nerve impulses and electric eels spring to mind). So there are 
effecient processes for turning external energy into electricity, and 
turning electricity into energy such as muscle contraction.

It seems clear to me that you could use electricity to *trigger* a 
chemical reaction, and plausible that you might be able to use it to 
*drive* a reaction. It wouldn't be trivial though; I'm guessing 
bioluminescense is usually driven either by the stored energy of the 
reactants themselves [which probably requires some huge long enzyme 
chain to resynthesize], or by a carrier molecule like AMP [which can't 
be directly synthesized from electricity in any obvious way].

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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