WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Do Glow Stick Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lauren voc Obam here with another classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from our former host, Christian Sagar. With Halloween coming up

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<v Speaker 1>and families preparing to engage in the safest possible trigger treating,

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<v Speaker 1>I was thinking about a more traditional piece of trigger

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<v Speaker 1>treat safety gear, the glow stick, and this one, Christian

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<v Speaker 1>breaks down how they work. Hey brain stuff, this is

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<v Speaker 1>Christian Sager. You have seen glow sticks before. I bet

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<v Speaker 1>they bring a festive glow to Halloween, trick or treating

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<v Speaker 1>and New Year's Eve celebrations. And they are a useful

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<v Speaker 1>gear for explorers, from scuba divers to spelunkers. When you

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<v Speaker 1>find a bunch of people gathered at a party in

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<v Speaker 1>the dark, at least a few of them will probably

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<v Speaker 1>be wielding glow sticks. But what the heck are these

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<v Speaker 1>things and how do they work? Well? Glow sticks are

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<v Speaker 1>powered by a process called kemma luminescence. Don't let the

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<v Speaker 1>name scare you. Luminescence is just a fancy word for

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<v Speaker 1>any emission of light not caused by heating. We see

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<v Speaker 1>luminescence and stuff like TVs, neon signs and fireflies. The

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<v Speaker 1>chemo Luminescence in glow sticks is a pretty simple reaction

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<v Speaker 1>caused by mixing chemical compounds. Compounds are made up of

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<v Speaker 1>different elements bonded together in specific proportions so that they

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<v Speaker 1>can't be mechanically separated. It takes a chemical reaction to

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<v Speaker 1>sort out, for example, the oxygen from the hydrogen in water.

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<v Speaker 1>When you mix a compound with other stuff, you can

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<v Speaker 1>set off that reaction, and as the atoms rearrange themselves,

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<v Speaker 1>they'll either absorb or release energy. If you look inside

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<v Speaker 1>a glow stick, you'll see that there's a small glass

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<v Speaker 1>vial in the tube. This file typically contains a hydrogen

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<v Speaker 1>peroxide solution called the activator. It's floating in a solution

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<v Speaker 1>containing a compound called phenol oxalate ester and a fluorescent dye.

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<v Speaker 1>You still with me, Okay. When you snap a glow stick,

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<v Speaker 1>the vile brakes and the hydrogen peroxide reacts with the

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<v Speaker 1>phenyl oxalate ester, creating two other compounds, phenol and a

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<v Speaker 1>paraoxy acid esther Okay, still with me again? Okay. This

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<v Speaker 1>para oxy acid stuff is unstable, so it decomposes and

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<v Speaker 1>produces additional phenol. It also produces a cyclic perioxy compound,

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<v Speaker 1>which decomposes to carbon dioxide. This decomposition releases energy to

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<v Speaker 1>the dye. The electrons in the dyes atoms jump to

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<v Speaker 1>a higher level than fall back down, releasing energy in

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<v Speaker 1>the form of light. The other chemicals in the fluorescent

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<v Speaker 1>dye determine the color of this light. All this happens

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<v Speaker 1>within moments of snapping and shaking your glow stick. Depending

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<v Speaker 1>on which compounds are used, the chemical reaction can continue

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<v Speaker 1>for anywhere from just a few minutes to hours. Warmer

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<v Speaker 1>temperatures will accelerate the reaction, making the stick glow brighter,

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<v Speaker 1>but for a shorter amount of time. When it's cooler,

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<v Speaker 1>the reaction will slow down, making the light dimmer, which

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<v Speaker 1>means that if you want to preserve your light stick,

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<v Speaker 1>put it in the freezer overnight. It won't stop the process,

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<v Speaker 1>but it will slow it down and drag out the reaction.

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<v Speaker 1>So it turns out that there's some pretty nifty science

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<v Speaker 1>behind the humble glow stick. Check it out the next

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<v Speaker 1>time you're scuba diving, partying, or you know, whatever it

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<v Speaker 1>is you do in the dark. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Ben Bolin and produced by Tyler clang. For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other glowing topics, visit how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio or more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart

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