This was my partner Audrey and I's first experiment with chemicals that we weren't familiar with at all. We wrote the following lab right up, but upon conducting the experiment, many things changed.
On experiment day, after putting on our safety gear, we started by setting up things that were easy and not dangerous to do on our own. Afterwards we called Andrew over to help us begin to work with the chemicals involved. When he came over he advised us in doing it slightly differently than we had originally planned (he's a glow stick expert, so we eagerly listened). In a little beaker, we mixed .4 grams of Luminol, 1 gram of sodium hydroxide, 500 millimeters of distilled water, and about 5 drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide. When the mixture started to loose it's glow, that's when the real fun began! We added a few drops of liquid potassium ferricyanide, and it glowed right up again, taking away electrons, and therefore activating the base substance again. Eventually we had to turn the lights on again but up until we used pipetts and played with the mixture by making little rings (or as Andrew calls them, doughnuts) and adding potassium ferricyanide in it's solid form so it made glowing streaks in the mixture (or as Andrew calls it, rain). Audrey and I loved this experiment. I love glow sticks and it was so incredible to actually make something that i've been in awe about since i was little!
Our original questions didn't really apply after the changes we had to make, so we refined it to, "what is chemiluminescence and how does it apply here?"
By dictionary definition chemiluminescence is; "the emission of light during a chemical reaction that does not produce significant quantities of heat." So in this case, it was the result of light from the mixture and reaction(s) of these chemicals.
Below are images from the experiment!
Our original questions didn't really apply after the changes we had to make, so we refined it to, "what is chemiluminescence and how does it apply here?"
By dictionary definition chemiluminescence is; "the emission of light during a chemical reaction that does not produce significant quantities of heat." So in this case, it was the result of light from the mixture and reaction(s) of these chemicals.
Below are images from the experiment!