Hello all babes and hunks!

This is Adela, Swee Ting, Fatehah, Kenny, Zailan, Iskandar, Jay & Valarie from 0911C!

On 16th march this year, some of our group members went to the Science Centre on a learning journey and there was a lecture demo on Amazing Chemistry.

Let us show you some VERY interesting pictures taken during the lecture:


This is the Super Absorbent Polymer(SAP) when added to water.


This is the 'Beverages' made from adding different compounds and
solutions to the 'Magic water' which made up of Potassium Hydroxide
and Potassium Ferric(II) Cyanide solutions.

These two are the lightstick experiment:




Silver mirror experiment


and lastly, a random picture. =D

Learning points and things we find interesting from the chemistry learning journey:

- We learn a lot more about Chemistry. For Example, the defination of Chemistry: Chemistry is a study of matter(Solid, Liquid, Gas & Plasma)

-We also learned about the Chemistry behind: Invisible ink, think ink(Starch-Iodine Clock Reaction), formation of different colours of chemical reactions, Lightsticks, blue bottle experiment, cloth burning(without the cloth being burnt), silver mirror, super absorbent polymer(SAP), genie in a bottle, Elephant’s toothpaste, congo red indicator and also dragon fire(Lycopodium).

- We learned that Invisible ink is not exactly INVISIBLE, it is just colourless and when reacted, changes to a more visible colour and hence, we are able to see it.

- It surprises us that the Super Absorbent Polymer can absorb up to 600 times of their own weight of pure water!

- It is really interesting to see that the 'Magic water' can react with compounds to
produce so many different colours!

-Most importantly, we got to learn about alot of interesting experiments that we normally won't be able to see or experience. And I'm sure everyone who went would have gained something from it.


We’ll zoom in on the experiment on Light sticks. If you don’t know what is a light stick, this is what it looks like:

Instructions: Bend the glow stick just enough to break internal glass ampoule. Shake to mix chemicals. You’ll see it GLOW. No worries, the chemical materials inside the light stick have been tested by a specialised organisation, and they are non-toxic, harmless, non-radiate, non-inflammable, and non-explosive.

From the lecture and research done, we’ve learnt that:

The commercial lightstick contains dilute hydrogen peroxide in a phthalic ester solvent contained in a thin glass ampoule, which is surrounded by a solution containing a phenyl oxalate ester and the fluorescent dye. When the ampoule is broken, the hydrogen peroxide and oxalate ester react.



During the course of the reaction, this is what happens:

1. The hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the phenyl oxalate ester, resulting in a chemical called phenol and an unstable peroxyacid ester.
2. The unstable peroxyacid ester decomposes, resulting in additional phenol and a cyclic peroxy compound.
3. The cyclic peroxy compound decomposes to carbon dioxide, releasing energy that excites the dye, which then deexcites by releasing a photon.
4. This decomposition releases energy to the dye. The color of the emitted light—depends on the structure of the dye. * See below
5. The electrons in the dye atoms jump to a higher level, then fall back down, releasing energy in the form of light(dye gains the light energy and glow). (When electrons move from one energy level to another, they either absorb or emit a photon. In this case, photons are emitted. Electrons in the outer shell of the atom loses energy to its surroundings. When an election gains or loses energy, it changes its position within the orbital shell structure of the atom. An electron losing energy sinks back down until it is "at rest" at the minimum energy level that is within the limits of stability for the innermost shell that is not full.)

Photon: Under the photon theory of light, a photon is a discrete bundle (or quantum) of electromagnetic (or light) energy. Photons are always in motion and, in a vacuum, have a constant speed of light.

Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) + Phenyl Oxalate Ester -> Peroxyacid ester + Phenol
Peroxyacid ester -> Phenol + Cyclic Peroxy compound
Cylic Peroxy compound -> Carbon Dioxide (CO2) + Energy

*Type of fluorescent dye:

Blue- 9,10-diphenylanthracene
Green- 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene
Yellow- 1-chloro-9,10-bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene Rubrene
Orange- 5,12-bis(phenylethynyl)-naphthacene Rhodamine 6G
Red- Rhodamine B

Let's find out more about the everyday uses of lightsticks!

Lightsticks have infinite number of uses.
Some of them will be:
-Decoration
-Entertainment purposes
-During blackouts - Candles Pose a Fire Hazard - Use Light Sticks
-Used by night time divers to track each other
-Used by military for night time activities
-Some people are also seen with light stick tongue piercing

Here are some RANDOM pictures of lightsticks:









Now its VIDEO TIME!!!!!!!! xD

Making a Glow Stick:



Making a 2 LITRE glow stick:



What will you do with lightsticks?

Will you blend it?



HAHAAAAAAAAaaaa.

So, in conclusion, We've learned alot from the learning journey and from the research we've done on glowsticks and we hope you find these facts interesting too!