How to make a Glow Stick at Home?

If you are the kind of person who is interested in making things at home rather than just purchasing them at the store, this project will be right up your alley--making a glow stick out of basic chemistry ingredients. The effect is immediate and the glow lasts for several minutes. In fact, tracking down the ingredients may be the most difficult part of the whole project.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 3 to 4 test tubes with stoppers 2 glass bowls First bowl: 1 l. distilled water 50 ml. hydrogen peroxide (3 percent concentration required) Second bowl: 1 l. distilled water .5 grams ammonium carbonate .2 grams luminol 4 grams sodium carbonate .4 grams copper sulfate pentahydrate

1. Mix 1 liter of water with the hydrogen peroxide in one of the glass bowls.

2. Mix the other ingredients together in the other glass bowl. Take care not to splatter the mixture on your skin or clothes.

3. Fill half of the clear glass test tube with the hydrogen peroxide mixture.

4. Fill the rest of the clear glass test tube with the luminol mixture, leaving enough room for the cap.

5. Quickly cap the test tube and shake vigorously. The mixture should start to glow within the test tube as the hydrogen peroxide starts to oxidize the luminol mixture. The homemade glow stick should last for approximately 3 or 4 minutes before the chemical reaction wears out.

Tips & Warnings

• Instead of glass test tubes, try to turn several different containers into glow sticks. Use any small transparent sealable container, such as small plastic shampoo or lotion bottles. Always clean the containers thoroughly before use. Get the containers ready to receive the mixture by setting them on some newspaper. Set the lid for the container right next to the bottle or test tube so you can quickly seal it after combining the ingredients.
• Don't ingest this mixture. While it is not necessarily toxic, it isn't meant to be consumed.

Resources

• Basic chemistry supplies sold here