Is light stick hazardous to human ?

picard · #1 07-20-2005, 06:03 PM

Is the glow liquid inside the light stick made of phosphorous? If it isn't phosphorous, is it hazardous if the stick is disposed into garbage?

tvodrd · #2 07-20-2005, 06:21 PM

They are advertised as non-toxic, and I don't think they contain any phosporus, but synthetic luciferinase and luciferin which results is some kind of enzyme-driven reaction. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif[/img] (From confirmed poor memory, not Google!) Kids frequently cut them open and pour the contents on themselves and etc.

Larry

PhotonWrangler · #3 07-20-2005, 07:05 PM

I believe Larry is correct. Besides, they sell all sorts of glow-stick-based jewelry for kids, and I don't think they'd be doing that if there was a danger of poisioning.

And I've never heard of fireflies being poisionous. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

The_LED_Museum · #4 07-20-2005, 07:27 PM

If one were to drink the liquid, it would probably taste like poo-poo, but should not cause any illness or damage, other than possibly some mild vomiting because it tasted so yucky.

yuandrew · #5 07-20-2005, 07:33 PM

I've chewed on one of those glow-necklaces before when I was little; it tasted very nasty (bitter+sour)

I'm still here today

James S · #6 07-20-2005, 07:55 PM

the activator is hydrogen peroxide I believe, which if you drink enough of it will make you puke, but unless you made a habit of it won't hurt you long term.

I actually just read something recently where they had been following these things and there have been no reports of any adverse reactions to getting the stuff on yourself. So they are considering them safe. I wouldn't want to get it in my eyes, but just spilling it on yourself or accidently biting through one won't hurt you any. I'd be much more worried about the broken glass shards getting into the kids mouth than the chemical.

Ken_McE · #7 07-20-2005, 08:41 PM

>Is the glow liquid inside the light stick made of phosphorous?

No.

>If it isn't phosphorous, is it hazardous if the stick is
>disposed into garbage?

No, except that the glass is sharp.

Unicorn · #8 07-22-2005, 07:14 PM

I've had lots of the liquid on me, and I even saw a guy pour some of the liquid on his scrotum (boredom while sitting in an APC + high temps + jackass = many bad ideas). That did cause some burning.

Makarov · #9 07-24-2005, 05:07 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Unicorn said:
...I even saw a guy pour some of the liquid on his scrotum. .. That did cause some burning.

[/ QUOTE ][img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif[/img]

Kids today, I never did such things when I was serving *cough* except maybe that time... and when... and I remember... *cough*

AJ_Dual · #10 08-02-2005, 03:59 PM

As others have said, no, not very hazardous.

When I was a kid/, light sticks were still pretty new, and the colored ones (other than green) had just come out. I had a red light stick I had been playing with, and had tried to extend it's life by keeping in the freezer. It had finally gotten so weak, you could only see it in the one windowless room our house had, the main bathroom.

I guessed (correctly) that if cold slowed down the light stick and made it last longer, that heat would speed up the chemical reactions, and make it brighter, and burn out more quickly. So there I was, in the dark bathroom heating the light stick with the hair dryer. And it indeed did work, the light stick was glowing brightly, almost as intensely as when it was new.

It was then that I noticed a thin red line streaking away from the light stick, and following it, I noticed glowing spatters and drips of red all over the bathroom walls.

Turning on the lights, the red light stick chemicals, even when burned out, were still dyed a deep shade of red. The red dye is permanent, and soaks in to several things like towels, walls, wood, and paint. I was still more excited at making the stick glow again, and the discovery that the chemicals could glow outside of the plastic tube.

My mother wasn't so excited at the red dye all over the walls of our bathroom.

So you could say that after a fashion, light sticks can be hazardous to your health, but only slightly. My mother is a rather petite woman, she can't swing all that hard, and my buttocks recovered quickly

Bravo25 · #11 08-03-2005, 05:29 AM

I give them to my daughter from time to time. When she was about 3 she layed in bed and chewed on one until it leaked. She, and the bed glowed iside, and out for a few hours. Of course I had checked previously to see that they were non-toxic. Still freaked my wife out seeing my daughters mouth glowing blue!

Skylighter · #12 08-05-2005, 07:54 PM

The first light sticks were toxic and about I beleive 15 or 20 years ago updated the formula to be non-toxic. Here is another interesting note about light sticks. Inside is two chemicals that react together. If you have these chemicals seperate, you can mix them at different ratios trading brightness for duration. As someone mentioned earlier, you can do the same with temperature.

picard · #13 08-05-2005, 08:45 PM

Camping stores sell light variety of light sticks. Are these the non-toxic version which US troops are using now?

Unicorn · #14 08-05-2005, 08:51 PM

I don't what brand we are issued. They come in white boxes that say cyalume, which I aswsume is the generic name for the chemical inside. They do say they are non toxic on the box and wrapping.

The_LED_Museum · #15 08-05-2005, 10:38 PM

Cyalume brand has been nontoxic since at least the mid-1970s when I first saw them.

bobisculous · #16 08-18-2005, 08:06 PM

Once in Boy Scouts, some dude broke one open and got the liquid in his eyes. I am not sure if that was intentional or not, but it was there. He flushed his eyes out as much as possible, but still, they did have a slight green glow afterwords. Before he flushed it out, he was looking like a demon from a movie.

C