The glow sticks have served as a standard accessory to parties for decades. Any party, festival or school party is complete without some glow sticks to the mix. Have you ever considered the scientific basis of glow sticks? What causes glow sticks to glow? What does it have to do with them? have to do with fireflies? What’s the reason they’re the sole source of light appropriate in the event of an emergency?
How does light get created? Let me excite your atoms…
The process of creating light occurs when a source outside of energy stimulates atoms, causing them to release a plethora of energy known as photons.
As an example when you turn the light bulb on it generates heat energy which causes atoms to be excited and speed up. As they speed up, they come into contact with each other with greater force, and transfer energy to the electrons of the atom. They are temporarily “excited and ‘excited’ to the point of higher energy and when they return to their normal level, they release a portion of their energy in the form light photons.
There are many methods that can be employed to create light. However, the two most familiar with in your daily life are:
Incandescence – Light is released due to heat. This is how fire generates light. It’s similar to how a light bulb functions.
Phosphorescence and fluorescence The emission of light is caused by radiation energy. It is the way television displays and fluorescent lights bulbs generate light.
Glow sticks emit light the same way, with hundreds of excited atoms banging into one another, release energy through light photons. However, instead of radiation or heat the chemical reaction is employed to activate the atoms of the material. The process is referred to as chemiluminescence.
What’s chemiluminesence and what’s it for when you’re at home?
Chemiluminescence can be described as one of the applications to a phenomenon that is referred to as luminescence. Basically, luminescence refers to the process of producing luminescence without heating.
You’ll find it everywhere in nature. Glowworms and fireflies utilize luminescence to attract their mates, and the Anglerfish (that large, scary fish from Finding Nemo) uses it to lure prey.
Chemiluminescence recreates the luminescence that is seen in nature by mixing several chemical substances to produce the chemical reaction. When the chemicals combine, the atoms in them reorganize to create new compounds. The energy generated by this chemical reaction is reflected in luminescence.
In simple terms they emit the light of two substances when they mix. The glow stick is merely a container that houses the chemical mixtures that are used for the reaction.
The majority of bulk glow sticks consist of two compartments. A tiny, brittle container is tucked away in an outer plastic container. Each container holds an ingredient that is chemical.
The glow stick’s brittle outer container snaps, releasing its contents, which mix with the chemical compounds in the outer container. This is when the atoms of your body are excited and start emitting energy through light.
The glass bottle contains diphenyl-oxalate solutions as well as an fluorescent dye. The solution is enclosed in a plastic casing, which also houses the solution of hydrogen peroxide. Once the glass is broken, both solutions mix. The resultant chemical reaction creates an emitted glow. It is important to note that these chemicals could cause irritation to the skin, and the glass vials can produce sharp shards when they are snapped. We don’t recommend dismantling the glow stick.
Since glow sticks use the chemical reaction in sealed tubes to produce light, they are the most safe type of light source to make use of following a catastrophe. In situations where the temperature that is required by incandescent lights could be hazardous, glow sticks are the best choice.
If you’re in process of preparing your underground bunker for the apocalypse to come We’ve got all that glow stick you’ll require.
Here’s the scientific part…
Usually, glow sticks employ an chemical reaction that involves the solution of hydrogen peroxide and a solution containing diphenyl oxide and an fluorescent dye. It is a similar process to this:
Diphenyl Oxalate is oxidized by hydrogen peroxide. This creates an instabil chemical (1,2-dioxtanedione).
The insoluble compound breaks down into carbon dioxide, and releases energy in the fluorescent dye when it breaks down.
This energy causes electrons of the dye atoms jump into a higher state. Once they return to their normal levels, the electrons let their energy out in the form light.
This chemical process is unreversible this is the reason why glow sticks are only available for only one function. However, you can slow or speed up the reaction by using the heat.
Put a glow stick in your armpit. The added heat energy will speed up the reaction. The object (the glow stick and not the armpit) will be brighter for a shorter time. Put your glow stick into the freezer to slow the reaction. The light will dim but its glow lasts much longer.
It can be done in a slow or fast manner. takes place, eventually all the diphenyloxalate and hydrogen peroxide will be consumed through an chemical reaction. When one of these substances is exhausted the glow stick stops blinking.
What is it that makes glow sticks glow in different colors?
A variety of chemical compounds can be utilized to produce the chemiluminescence. Based on the chemical employed, as well as the dyes employed, the glow stick emits different colors of light.