Brew Your Own Glow-Stick Juice?

Quidam · Post by **Quidam** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:03 pm

Has anyone worked with the chemicals inside glow sticks? I don't mean breaking them open and having fun, I mean securing a supply of both chemicals from a chemical supply company and worked with them in larger quantities?

I like the idea of refillable glow toys, and have a few ideas for projects involving the stuff.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:01 pm

I haven't, but a search turned up this web site

http://science.howstuffworks.com/light-stick2.htm

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 6:49 am

I've completely abandoned chemical glowsticks, because of the environmental impact. Refillable sticks IS a step in the right direction, though. Electronic glowsticks, utilizing EL tape, run around twenty bucks and will run for a LONG time even on rechargeables....But diodes are improving and inexpensive-izing steadily. And coming soon- PAINT-ON electroluminescent stuff. Mmmmmmm.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 3:31 pm

Krill lights? Yeah, I have a few of those. I mostly use them on my bike at night (red for port, green for starboard

)

The white ones are pretty good for searching through your Box o' Schtuph™ in the middle of the night. Good job they're coming down in price...

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:30 pm

I keep my Krill light on a cord around my neck for the recommended pre-JOTS inspection after dark...didn't know they still made them - I got mine many years ago for CAVESAR use...they were pretty spendy then, how much are they now?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:38 pm

I went in on a group order and they were about $15 each...less than $20, I couldn't have swung that, even in a mass purchase.

The company's really Burner friendly, they want everyone to get Krill lights and regularly do group orders. I'd definitely get behind that if they started powering them on NiMH batteries. But I put regular Energizer AA batteries in mine three years ago and they're still working, so they do pretty good in any case.

Side-note: the plastic for chemical glowsticks is recyclable.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:38 am

There are also LED "glowsticks", basically miniatures of the golfclub-tube-on-a-flashlight cheapo fake lightsabers that they cranked out after a Certain Movie in the 70's....One super-bright LED powered by three AG13 button cells, and actually pretty darn bright. The blue ones seem to crank the most lumens. $2-3 in bigbox sporting goods sections, or at your neighborhood Chinese tool and tarp distributor.

Isotopia · Post by **Isotopia** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:25 pm

Keep in mind that the hydrogen peroxide that the above site mentions is NOT the 2% solution you keep in your medicine cabinet. What they're talking about is a nuch, much stronger solution which can be pretty nasty stuff.

EMERGENCY OVERVIEW
Appearance: APHA: 10 max.
Danger! Strong oxidizer. Contact with other material may cause a fire. Harmful if inhaled. Corrosive. Causes eye and skin burns. May cause severe respiratory tract irritation with possible burns. May cause severe digestive tract irritation with possible burns.
Target Organs: None known.

Potential Health Effects
Eye:
Causes eye burns. Produces irritation, characterized by a burning sensation, redness, tearing, inflammation, and possible corneal injury.
Skin:
Causes skin burns.
Ingestion:
May cause severe and permanent damage to the digestive tract. Causes gastrointestinal tract burns. May cause perforation of the digestive
tract. May cause severe digestive tract irritation with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Inhalation:
Harmful if inhaled. May cause irritation of the respiratory tract with burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, wheezing,
shortness of breath and pulmonary edema. Causes chemical burns to the respiratory tract. May cause ulceration of nasal tissue, insomnia, nervous tremors with numb extremities, chemical pneumonia, unconsciousness, and death.
Chronic:
Prolonged or repeated skin contact may cause dermatitis.

Anything over 30% is considered a hazardous material and requires special packaging, shipping and handling.

phil · Post by **phil** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:58 pm

Just another drunk biting through a glow stick. (Not the first drunk, the second drunk.)
http://www.alldumb.com/item/123/

Quidam · Post by **Quidam** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:01 am

Isotopia wrote:Keep in mind that the hydrogen peroxide that the above site mentions is NOT the 2% solution you keep in your medicine cabinet. What they're talking about is a nuch, much stronger solution which can be pretty nasty stuff.

And yet glowsticks are given to children, many of whom have freed the fluid without keeling over. Does anyone have a recipe like the ones used safely, commercially & profitably? And, perhaps, a suggestion as to where those chemicals could be obtained?

Mahalo!

phil · Post by **phil** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:54 am

quidam, google wikipedia and glow stick or light stick. They have articles with links to what the chemicals are. It'll be up to you to track them down and aquire without being arrested as a terrorist. :-)

Brew Your Own Glow-Stick Juice?

Brew Your Own Glow-Stick Juice?

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