Light From Chemistry
September 24, 2025 • EPISODE 279
What is chemiluminescence? It’s the process of producing light through chemistry—no electricity required. In this episode of Science LIVE, Dr. Roger Billings explains how chemical reactions can generate light, from fireflies and glowing oceans to everyday glow sticks. Explore the science behind these luminous phenomena and discover how nature and technology both harness the power of chemiluminescence.
About DrB
Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology.
As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.
Read more about DrB »
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »
“The mosquitoes brought lanterns!” Love that story.
Love this ep
I loved how it showed the brilliance of fireflies and glowing oceans to everyday glow sticks. It really inspired me to look at light in a whole new way
I think biolight is really neat. I liked how you showed it with the lemons.
fireflies are so cool
R-51!
Chemistry is in our everyday lives
Light without electricity is a new concept for me. Thank you for providing information on a topic that is new.
Bio-light is such an interesting topic!! I love it!!
I didn’t know that electricity can be made without light, but it’s cool
The plankton are super cool
I think bioluminescence is interesting because it stands for living light and bioluminescence mixed together two chemical together to create a glowing effect. It is neat how paper was based on how a wasp makes its nes.
Bio-light is cool, I loved learning about it.
how do lemons create electricity?
My grandpa’s hometown has a lot of fireflies at night, rounded on the tree near the river, very beautiful. Really interested in knowing bio-light. Thanks ScienceLive!!
It was Amazing Watching This!
I love chemistry so much!
That is soooooooooo cool 🤯😯😮😦😯😮😦🤯🤯🤯🤯😦😮😯😯😮😮😦😦🤯🤯🤯 I’ve been looking for this episode since I knew about Science Live soo amazing 🤩 🫨
R 51 is so funny
I noticed that when Dr. R put the Diluted Hydrogen Peroxide and the Special Liquid, It glowed brighter when there is more of the Hydrogen Peroxide! 😀 Which is so cool!!!! I loved seeing this!
Amazing!!
This live was awesome!
I enjoyed the story about r51!!
Very nice video. It was great to see the blue light in the water. So very beautiful. Thanks for teaching me about bio light.
Loved learning more about bio light!
Fireflies have always fascinated me, especially when I was younger, around 2 to 4. Seeing them (in photos) has made me really love fireflies and their study. I’m amazed by their glow because they look really pretty! They can go in anything and it is SO pretty! It can light up the night.
It’s crazy how these tiny creatures can create real light using chemical reactions inside their bodiess when i was little i used to think they had a built in lantern and what makes it even cooler is that they use this glow to communicate attract and they produce it without heat! that is something humans still struggle to replicate perfectly just makes biolight feel even more magical!!
I wish there were fireflies where I live
Love to learn about Bio-light! Thanks!
Thanks for teaching me about bio-light!
did you know that fireflies have a Catepillar shaped like body when they are baby’s.
It’s funny how fireflies can light up, and it’s neat how they do it too.
Chemistry is awsome
There is a thing called fairy circles which are circles with no vegetation caused by hydrogen in the soil.
Bioluminescence in fireflies has always amazed me when I was younger, especially in June on Long Island every year. catching them and studying them have made me really love insects and the study of them. I’ve always been blown away by the glow of fireflies, especially in June on Long Island.
I cant believe light can be made without electricity.
Light can be created without electricity?? That is definitely something I have never heard of.
I was really fascinated with your Acellus Gold project, and that by studying hard you can be rewarded!
I’ve always been so fascinated by fire-fly’s.
i love Acellus gold.
Fireflies are awesome!!
I enjoyed learning about fireflies
I have a feeling R-51 did not indeed invent the firefly
I like fireflies 🙂
Firefly’s are so cool!
it was fun learning about real life fairy rings and hydrogen
i liked learning about the fireflies and light up experiments
I love this lesson on light from the fireflies!
This was easy to understand, thank you!!
This is one of my favorite episodes so far
lol that was funny. Thanks for explaining it in a fun way.
That is so cool 😎
this show is the best
Fireflies are super cool 😎
It crazy to think about how fireflies generate the light.
Using hydrogen would be better than fossil fuels.
firefly’s are so so interesting!!
This is amazing!
Thank you for the videos!
What is chemiluminescence?
The way fireflies produce their light is so interesting.
The fireflies are so pretty 😍
its so amazing how lighting bugs can produce light!
i love science. but i love it more when it is chemistry!
Fireflies are soooooooooo cute! 🥰
I loved how it showed the brilliance of fireflies and glowing oceans to everyday glow sticks. It really inspired me to look at light in a whole new way.
Nature is so amazing I just learnt that the ocean glows naturally it is truly amazing
wow the lightning bugs are so cool
lighning bugs are awesome
fireflies are so pretty
wow!! I did not know lemons could do that
I liked the experiment in this video
lightening bugs are natures example of bio luminescense
I loved catching fireflies as a kid I still do.
So cool to learn about the evolution of paper!
Thank you Dr. B for your continous persuet to making a difference.
Bioluminescent, so amazing and cool!
the part about the little fish which light up blue when messed with was really cool
Its amazing you can create light from chemistry!
r51 is pretty cool.
that’s a great way to look at when life gives you lemons.
Lemon powered lightning bugs… the meaning of life… it all makes sense now…
I love lightening bugs so much
Lightning bugs are cool
I’m a person who really enjoys meeting the daily goals and doing even more than needed. This is such an amazing tool.
Light without electricity, it’s amazing~
Love the concept of fireflies used to recreate light without electricity.
r51 is truly so funny.
Cool video
I love lightning bugs!
I liked the experiment in this video
Love catching lightning bugs!!
These are always enjoyable to watch, never get bored of them!
Bioluminescence in fire flies have always amazed me when I was younger in June on Long Island every year. catching them and studying them have made me really love insects and the study of them.
I’m a person who really enjoy meeting the daily goals and do even more than needed, this is such a great tool
Bioluminescence looks like art.
Can you invite Elon to your program?
I love bioluminescence especially the one I’ve seen in the ocean!!
It’s really awesome what nature could do. Seeing how bioluminescence plays a role in the environment is very intriguing.
I like r51.
bioluminescence is really, really cool.
We have fireflies in our backyard every year! Catching them is so fun but you have to be careful.
Chemiluminescence is so cool, I’ve always seen videos of oceans lighting up, but never understood it!
We have a lot of fireflies where we live.
I love fireflies! They are such a cool species
I’ve been chasing fireflies all my life and had no idea how cool they really can be!
This is so cool.
I’ve always really liked fireflies so it’s really cool to see how they light up. We call them lightning bugs.
I can’t believe light can be created in ways like these.
This episode really encouraged me to study harder thank youu!!
I love Fireflies! Acellus is cool
Chemiluminescence is cool
Can the glow algae be found in every ocean in the world?
I loved seeing how the algae reacted the moment the lights turned off. See how chemiluminescence works is pretty awesome and hopefully can be used in the future for science.
I think Starlink is cool. I wish we could get it. I read that it was used for when the hurricane hit those people. It was given to them for free to help them. I think that was so nice.
i learned that chemiluminescence Is the process of producing light through chemistry
This video was soooo cool with the algae bioluminescence!! 🙂
Acellus is cool
Weekly goals has helped me stay on track!
Light is incredible
Chemiluminscence is cool!
We use starlink!
Fireflies are amazing love them.
Starlink is amazing!
Wow! Il’s amazigh how light can be generated without electricity. I loved learning how paper was discovered. Thanks Tobias!
We are thinking about getting Starlink. I hope we do!
I love starlink
My favorite part is when Dr. Billings did the experiment creating bioluminescence in the dark. It’s interesting that living organisms can light up in the dark. It’s neat how plankton lights up when the waves crash on to the beach. The fireflies light up in the dark because of bioluminescence.
I find it amazing how light can be generated beyond using electricity, such as fireflies using chemiluminescence to produce their light!
I wonder if the Great Lakes have anything to do with the hydrogen and the great rift. It was interesting hearing in more detail of how paper was made. Also do all creatures who have bioluminescence have the same bioluminescence? Anyways this was an interesting video. Also do you think that you could do videos on other creatures perhaps marine life etc.
we don’t have fireflies where I live, but when traveling I saw them, I was so interested I studied all about them. They are super cool!!
I loooooove acellus
And I love firefly’s..
🔥🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
Our family loves when firefly’s come in the summer. We like watching and catching and releasing them.
I love the lives I always enjoy them!
Star link is incredible
Do you think we will see a time when all cars are run on hydrogen? Would that be better for our planet?
Its so cool how the US has over 175 firefly species.
Loved learning about how chemical reactions make light.
I hope that hydrogen powers the world soon
Starlink is incredible
I have Acellus Gold and it’s so amazing! 👩🏾🦱 I love that you can customize your profile!
Wow, I didn’t know that bioluminescence occurred more frequently than I thought.
I think it’s so cool that creatures in the world can create natural light
Chemistry can be really cool if you really get to understand it!
I loved this episode so much, thank you! Im so so sorry about your Aunt and Dad “Luke Carlton”, I really hope everything gets better, and ill be praying for you and your family.
Hydrogen is the new Gold!
Wow! I have never or heard or seen a fairy circle. This was super neat to learn about. Thank you!
This is an incredible episode! It really shows how beautiful the living organisms of our earth are
I think it is incredible that living creatures can create light in nature. It is so beautiful!
when did elon musk make starlink
chemistry is one of my favorites
wow you learn something new every day.
I loved this episode! Dr. Roger Billings you are amazing!
I like fireflies. Do angler fish and fireflies use the same type of bioluminescence?
I loved watching the science experiment. So cool!
Am I the only one who just sits here and reads comments?
BTW acellus is THE BEST!
I liked this video. It was pretty cool
Acellus powering lots of schools makes me very happy! I’m glad I’m apart of an amazing online program!
Thank you for the Science live!
Chemistry is my favorite!
I love R 51 and fireflies. It was great to learn about them.
Fireflies are my absolute favorite, I used to chase them around and catch them when I was little!
why do diffrent elements emit diffrent colors of light
I learned that light is made from chemical reactions, which I never knew before. Omg fireflies are so cool because of that.
Thank you so much Science Live! I really appreciate these videos.
I love exploring and playing with bugs! Fireflies are so cool!
I live in county side and I love seeing fireflies all summer!