Emergence in Nature
Year 02 | Semester 03 | 2018
Team Members
Nazm Furniturewala
Devashree Deshmukh
Rishabh Doshi
It is a common misconception that the Panther Chameleons change their colour through physical contact. The change actually takes place due the expansion and contraction as well as the change in spacing of nanocrystals in the skin layers. The transparent nanocrystals, made of the DNA building block Guanine, are placed in a hexagonal lattice. Their thickness, spacing, and refractive index determine what color is created. Chameleons are able to produce some of their color changes using a technique similar to that of a prism and not solely based on the pigments in their skin.
Process
Concept
When the crystals were close together, they reflected short wavelengths, or Blue light, while the rest of the colors passed through. When the crystals moved farther apart, the longer wavelength or Red light was reflected instead.
The distance between guanine crystals is on an average 30% smaller in diameter in resting form that in the excited form. The shift from the relaxed to the excited state takes 7 minutes on an average.
Process
Form Development
