Making glow sticks brighter

Just ran across this on Instructables.com. Somebody placed some glowsticks in a microwave oven for 10 seconds, speeding up the chemical reaction and making them much brighter.

My first thought - cool idea.

My second thought - is this safe? Does the heat cause any chemical changes?

A Light stick is basically a chemical reaction between two (liquid) compounds that emits light for the duration of the reaction usually around 20min to 14 hours depending on type & brand (there are some that are really bright but short running).

As with most reactions you can slow the reaction down or speed it up by applying cold or heat respectively. WARNING if heated too much they WILL explode & do damage

What they did by putting it in the microwave was speed up the reaction but shortened the time that it will run for.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME - the chemicals are supposedly non toxic but I have treated patients who have had skin irritations & eye problems from when they opened the light sticks up during evening/night events & got splashed with the chemicals by their friends (don't ask :shakehead) & have even had to send another off to hospital to have his stomach pumped after ingesting the contents of one (and he was old enough to know better too)

You can make it dimmer but longer running by cooling it down in a freezer/ice/snow which slows the chemical reaction.

FYI - Cyalume (or whatever they have morphed into) made (and maybe still make) an ultra intense orange glowstick that burns out in like 5 minutes, but its too bright to look at. If I can find them, I'll post a link.

the 5 minute ones are amazing, see if This Link works to the category at extremeglow.com

I"ve got a bag-o-fun from them right here waiting for it to get dark out for halloween

I have put them in the microwave for a few seconds before, just occurred to me that warming up the insides would give them a little more Oomph. It does work, even with ones that are almost used up. But if you manage to increase the pressure inside the tube enough, and or weaken the plastic with spots of heat it will go boom inside your microwave.

the insides are mostly concentrated hydrogen peroxide, at least thats the chemically active part that you wouldn't want to get in your eyes and such. (beyond the sharp broken glass bits) There was an article recently that decided that the stuff had been around long enough, and enough people had been exposed to the insides for them to conclude that it wasn't dangerous beyond the potential for some irritation or rash like nastyness. So if you do get it on your hands, wash it off ASAP and you should be OK. Of course, if you are not OK get it seen to.

i just put in this order

1MIP 1.5" Mini-Variety (Pack of 50) - Wrapped 1 $10.00 $10.00
12U 12" Omniglow - Unwrapped 2 $1.50 $3.00
COLOR: RED
12U 12" Omniglow - Unwrapped 2 $1.50 $3.00
COLOR: GREEN
12U 12" Omniglow - Unwrapped 2 $1.50 $3.00
COLOR: BLUE
6GLO 6" 5-min Orange - Unwrapped 4 $0.25 $1.00
6U 6" GlowLight - Unwrapped 8 $0.75 $6.00
COLOR: ASSORTED



cant wait:candle::candle::candle::candle::devil:

James S said:

the 5 minute ones are amazing, see if This Link works to the category at extremeglow.com

Click to expand...

That's great - I wonder how bright they'd be in the microwave. But

Of course, Extreme Glow takes credit cards, ... All pertinent information required to complete the transaction will be sent via email.

Click to expand...

on their International Orders page is a bit of a worry.

i just put mine in a pan of boiling water for 10-20 sec much brighter.

This site gives some info on how glow sticks work. I never thought of heating them though. I know with certain fireworks you can bend them to compress the gunpowder to make them more powerful.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/light-stick1.htm

Re: wow gold`

^reported^

Re: wow gold`

greenLED said:

^reported^

Click to expand...

Why?

There is nothing wrong with the link?

:thinking:

Re: Making glowsticks brighter

Shreknow91 said:

Why?

There is nothing wrong with the link?

:thinking:

Click to expand...

:laughing: The post immediately previous was spam - see the changed title? If greenLED hadn't posted "reported" I would have reported it myself (and not posted "reported").

I've been wanting to try this microwaving technique but the online shops with the brightest glowsticks don't seem to have very good shipping or payment policies for international customers.

James S said:

the 5 minute ones are amazing, see if This Link works to the category at extremeglow.com

Click to expand...

Good prices. Are the glow sticks on this website decent quality? (i've had cheap ones that were not bright and still only lasted 10's of minutes)

To me it sounds hazardous to put glowsticks in a micrrowave oven, the heating is not well controlled and would appear to carry a risk of overheating and bursting/exploding.

Heating by placing in vessel of hot or even boiling water would appear to be much less risky since the temperature is known.
After all a car, or a ships lifeboat, can get very hot indeed in tropical climates, and I have never heard of glowsticks stored thus exploding.