Exam Quiet Time Reservations chemistry

Sunday March 19th Room B-103 3:00-9:00 pm
Tuesday March 21st Room C-104 3:00-9:00 pm

Room B-103 has been reserved on Monday March 20th and Wednesday March 22nd from
4-9 pm

The Chemistry Behind Lightsticks chemistry

Almost everyone has seen a lightstick. A lightstick is a plastic tube with a glass vile inside it. When the tube is bent, the vial breaks allowing the chemicals to mix and react. The colorfully glowing sticks utilize a chemical process called chemiluminescence where energy is released in the form of light. The most common lightsticks use chemiluminescence with colored tubes to provide the desired color.
This process is not caused by heat and may not produce heat, but the speed of reaction is still dependence on environmental heat. The colder the environment, the slower the reaction and will glow longer.
Lightsticks have three parts. There are two chemicals that react to release energy which is converted to light. Usually, commercial lightsticks utilize the reaction between hydrogen peroxide and acetonitrile. When the glass vile is broken and the two chemicals are mixed, it will release enough energy to excite the electrons in the oxygen to cause the electrons to jump to a higher energy level and then fall back releasing light.
Specifically, the hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the acetonitril eventually forming excited oxygen. This decomposes and releases the energy as light as can be seen stepwise above.
More on chemiluminescence can be found here on “A Chemiluminescence Reaction between Hydrogen Peroxide and Acetonitrile and Its Applications.”

The last race chemistry

The last UT race of the term was won by Nick, who automatically won the video ipod since it was the only prize left for him to win. This was probably the most difficult maze so far and took him 15 minutes to complete.