Cool Light At Different Temperatures- A Science Fair Project

By Author: Jason john
Total Articles: 85
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Sun, candle, electric bulbs etc are sources which produce light, but they produce heat also. Can u imagine any light source which does not provide heat? Yes, by glow worms. It is not very common for chemical reactions to produce light without heat. This kind of light is produced by chemiluminescent reactions and is called cool light.

Materials Required:

Light sticks. They are available in sport shops.

You may have noticed messages glowing even in the dark. We can this while travelling at night. In order to highlight the letters in the messages, light sticks are used.

Procedure of experiment:

After buying a few light sticks and activate them accordingly by reading the instructions on the cover. Then under different conditions you have to observe the reactions.

Condition 1
Keep the light stick in a dark room and describe the appearance of the light stick. Check the colour of the glow and check whether the glow come from the entire light stick or only from the liquid inside the light stick. Note down on a piece of paper.

Condition 2
...
... The light sticks should be immersed in a glass of cold water and notice it on a paper what happens to the glow.

Condition 3
The light sticks should be then immersed in a glass of warm water. Then you can see the plastic covering of the light sticks melting and this will be the end of the experiment. The change in the glow coming from the light stick should be observed and noticed.

Condition 4
Keep the light sticks in the freezer for 24 hours and check whether it is continuing to glow inside the freezer. Then after some time let it warm in room temperature. Note down your observation.

Read all the notes and summarize your observation.

Some questions that usually arise are what affects the glow of the light stacks, how long the glow remains, what could be done to preserve the glow and how temperature affects the glow?

The change in the effect is the result of the effect of temperature on the chemical reaction inside the light sticks. The chemical reaction takes place will be much higher rate when the temperature is high. When the temperature is kept low, the opposite will happen. The light sticks uses up the reactants in a much faster rate. So in higher temperature the glow is brighter than in lower temperature.