Glow Stick Experiment
Cost: $3
Materials
- 2 packages glow sticks
- 1 cup each of hot, cold, and room temperature water
- 1/2 cup ice
- 1 printout of the accompanying lab sheet
Instructions
- This works best observing the glow sticks in a darkened room.
- Before getting started, remember we are going to use a scale of 1 to 10 to rate the brightness. 1 is no light at all, and 10 is used if it’s an extremely bright glow.
- Label the three containers as “Ice“ or “Ice Water”"Room Temp” and "Warm Water.“
- Pour cold water with ice into the “Ice” cup, pour room temperature water into the “Room Temp” cup, and pour hot water into the “Hot Water” cup.
- Bend three glow sticks so they begin their chemical reaction and glow.
- Place a glow stick in each of the three labeled cups.
- Fill in the “Start Time” on the Observation Sheet
- Quickly take the temperature of each cup of water and write it on the observation sheet.
- Observe the glow of each stick. What do you notice? Write your observations on the sheet.
- Take your fourth glow stick and put it in the hot water for a minute or two. Then, move it to the cold water. Did you notice anything?
- Observe the first three glow sticks; what do you notice as time passes? When do you start to see a change in brightness in any of the glow sticks? Record your observations on the Observation Sheets
- Keep watching the glow sticks and filling out the chart on the Observation Sheet. Answer the discussion questions.