DiscoverChemistry For Your LifeHow do glowsticks glow?
How do glowsticks glow?

How do glowsticks glow?

Update: 2025-08-28
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#067 Rebroadcast (Originally Aired October 2020)


Guess what time of year it is. It's spooky time! One thing we see a lot of during this time of year, is things that glow. And you better believe that's chemistry. So how do glowsticks glow? How does bending the glowsticks start that process? What's mixing with what, and seriously how the heck does it glow? Let's find out.


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References from this episode



  1. Organic Chemistry, Solomons 11e

  2. Quantitative Chemical Analysis, Daniel C. Harris

  3. Simple Glowmatography: Chromatographic Separation of GlowStick Dyes Using Chalk - Thomas S. Kuntzleman,* Kasey R. Bunker, and Ashlee A. Bartlett

  4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/fluorescence

  5. https://ocw.mit.edu/high-school/chemistry/demonstrations/videos/anatomy-of-a-glowstick/glowstick.pdf

  6. Glowmatography - Thomas S. Kuntzleman,* Anna E. Comfort, and Bruce W. Baldwin


 

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How do glowsticks glow?

How do glowsticks glow?

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