The project by Jože Špehar is based on special abilities of little single cell algae. This little creatures react upon a disturbance in a fluid they live in with light emission. They are called Dinoflagellates and their natural habitat is only in certain parts of the world’s oceans. The point of the project is to observe this phenomenon through creation and performance of different kinds of disturbances like air bubbles, droplets or streams of fluid and capturing this action and beauty with camera.
The work in this project can be roughly divided in three groups:
- Development of devices, that will be able to produce air bubbles of different sizes and shapes (the diameter of the bubble, that is already big enough to make the cells glow is about 0.5 mm). Bubbles can have different shapes, from simple circles or vortex ring bubbles, we can also make clouds of smaller bubbles. Lots of work and imagination can also be used in preparation of other types of disturbance sources.
- Hacking the remote shutter release cable for camera (dslr). Camera will be set on the tripod, shooting will be triggered trough the wire in order to get a still picture. Shutter signal will come from the electronic circuit that uses photodiodes instead of the ordinary trigger button.
- Preparation of the container in which the algae will live in during the time of the experiment and all the objects that will come in contact with them. It should be dipped into boiling water for 15 min to sterilize the materials and prolong the life of the algae. Maybe also the pure water from Soča river will come handy here.