Glow Stick Lab

Glow Stick Lab – Informal
Hypothesis:
I believe the glow sticks will become ultimately brighter in the warmer temperature beaker as heat cause molecules and particles to move faster and rapidly thus producing energy where as when the glow stick is the cold temperature beaker I believe it will dim in light as energy id being taken away as particles are moving much slower and are closer to each other.
Materials:
* Hot plate * Two beakers (200mL) * Two glow sticks * Water * Thermometer * Beaker Tongs
Procedure:
1. Retrieve the materials needed to perform this experiment. 2. Take Beaker 1 and fill it ¾ full with refrigerated water (12 degrees Celsius). 3. Take Beaker 2 and fill it ¾ full with room temperature
water. 4. Take the hot plate and let it heat as you place Beaker 2 on it. 5. Let the water heat up to 95 degrees Celsius before removal. 6. Use the Thermometer to measure your beakers. 7. Break the glow sticks and put them in the beakers and analyze which one is brighter and what is happening in each. 8.
Analyze and record in your observation chart to what happened to the glow sticks after they were put in the two different temperate waters.
Observations:
| Beaker 1 (cold) | Beaker 2 (hot) | Temperature (degrees Celsius) | 12 | 95 | Glow stick brightness before on scale of 1-10 | 7/10 – Bright | 7/10 – Bright | Glow stick brightness after on scale 1-10 | 4/10 – Dimmed | 10/10 – Very Bright |

Data Analysis: 1. Yes my prediction was correct as the glow stick has become intensely brighter when emitted into the hot temperature water while the other glow stick dimmed as it came in contact with the cold temperature water. This was due to the lack of energy being produced thus letting the glow stick particles to slow down. 2. When the glow stick was emitted into the warm water it became brighter as the light output increased. This is because to the increase of energy as heat produces light and energy. The energy allowed the glow stick particles to rapidly move and spread. 3. When the glow stick was emitted into the cold water it became dimmer as the light output decreased. This is because the cold water causes the glow stick particles to slow down thus causing the light to have a decrease in energy as energy is produced from
heat. 4.
I think the change in brightness occurred because of the energy levels the temperatures produced. The heated water produced more light because heat results and creates light and energy. As well the heat caused the glow stick particles to move more rapidly which was as well due to the increase of energy. However I think the change in brightness in the other beaker was a result of loss of energy. By putting the glow stick into the cold water you are depriving it from heat, energy and light thus a decrease in the particle movements of the glow stick which results into dimness. When particles move slower this is a result of a loss of energy, in this scenario the loss of energy caused the glow stick to dim in
brightness. 5. The type of light produced by the glow stick is chemiluminescence. This is the direct production of light as the result of a chemical reaction with little or no heat production. 6. The process of how light is produced in a glow stick is different than a fireflies because fireflies use a process cause “bioluminescence” which is the production of light in living organisms as the result of a chemical reaction with little or no heat while a glow stick uses the process of chemiluminescence which is the direct production of light as the result of a chemical reaction with little or no heat production. The difference between the two is one only occurs in living organisms and is naturally made while the other is production of manmade materials which are chemically joined by force. Chemiluminescence is an artificial chemical reaction where as bioluminescence is natural reaction created by an organism to create light.