I love things like this way too much.
“A light stick consists of a glass vial, containing one chemical solution, housed inside a larger plastic vial, containing another solution.
When you bend the plastic vial, the glass vial breaks, the two solutions flow together, and the resulting chemical reaction causes a fluorescent dye to emit light.
The particular dye used in the chemical solution gives the light a distinctive color.
The chemical reaction in a light stick usually involves several different steps. A typical commercial light stick holds a hydrogen peroxide solution and a solution containing a phenyl oxalate ester and a fluorescent dye.
When the two combine:
- The hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the phenyl oxalate ester, resulting in a chemical called phenol and an unstable peroxyacid ester.
- The unstable peroxyacid ester decomposes, resulting in additional phenol and a cyclic peroxy compound.
- The cyclic peroxy compound decomposes to carbon dioxide.
- This decomposition releases energy to the dye.
- The electrons in the dye atoms jump to a higher level, then fall back down, releasing energy in the form of light.
The light stick itself is just a housing for the two solutions involved in the reaction — essentially, it is portable chemistry experiment.”
(via howstuffworks)
