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Brighten up your day with the truth about Glow Stick
I heard you say what is a glow stick?
They're plastic tubes that you shake and break, and then they glow - they're great for UV parties!
Long, thin, bright and flexible.
Typically, these are thin tubes between 10 and 14 cm long, although it varies depending on the light stick that can be worn.
You may have seen them as a necklace or bracelet at festivals, parties, or Halloween.
How do light sticks glow?
Light sticks glow from a chemical process called "chemical luminescence".
In chemical luminescence, a chemical reaction causes the release of energy.
The electrons in the chemical increase to higher energy levels.
When the electrons return to normal levels, they produce energy in the form of light.
And that is the scientific explanation of why they glow.
What are the chemicals?
In the glow stick, the chemicals used to form the reaction are hydrogen peroxide and a combination of phenyl oxalate esters and fluorescent dyes give the rod a vibrant color.
Hydrogen peroxide is encased in a glass tube and it randomly floats into the mixture inside a plastic glow stick.
So, bending the glow stick will break the glass tube and release hydrogen peroxide.
Then some chemical reaction happened making it glow!
Two facts here that will make you the master of glow sticks!
To keep it longer, put in the freezer, the light will not be as bright but it will take longer.
To make the light more brilliant, heat up the glow stick, this will significantly shorten the life of the poor glow stick.
