Experiment with Things that Glow under a Black Light

As the title suggests, here is my list of things that glow under a black light. After you've read it, you can keep reading for an explanation of black lights and my program, or you could move on. Either way, thanks for reading:)

Things that Glow Under a Black Light:

Tonic water
Laundry detergent
Area around the dark spots of a banana
Highlighter ink
Security strip on a recent US $20
Irish Springs soap
Petroleum jelly
Canola or vegetable oil
White paper
White LEGO pieces
Glow in the dark paint
Glow sticks (alright the last two already glow in the dark, but they glow even brighter under a black light)
Tooth whitening products
and believe it or not, Monster energy drinks

Every month I get the chance to do science experiments at a local private school. Typically my library program happens before I go to the school, which gives me a chance to see what experiments will work well in a classroom setting. But this time, I got an idea for my library program from the school program.

Glow in the Dark Experiments was my topic last month, and while I was there, one of the students mentioned that they had been using black lights to identify certain minerals in rocks. He thought it would be cool for us to experiment with other things that glow under black lights. I agreed =D

I'm sure everyone is familiar with black lights, but I wasn't quite sure how they worked. Black lights are emitting two kinds of light; light we can see, and light we can't see. The light we can see is the purplish color, and the light we can't see is called ultraviolet light. This ultraviolet light (UVA) is the harmless cousin to the harmful ultraviolet light (UVB) that gives you a sunburn.

If something glows under a black light, it is because it contains phosphors. Phosphors are a substance that emit visible light when exposed to radiation. So they are absorbing the ultraviolet light from the black light, and converting it to visible light.

Turns out there are quite a few things that glow under a black light, and I figured I'd list them for you here. My time at the private school was mostly spent seeing what would glow and what wouldn't. If you want to do this program, I would suggest grabbing a mixture of things that glow and things that don't, and see what you see. Also be willing to test things that are around the room...

Glow in the Dark Experiments

Who doesn't like stuff that glows, and I figured it was appropriate for Halloween :)

Glow Sticks

An easy way to get glowing is glow sticks. Basically it is a chemical reaction between two compounds that, when mixed, release excess energy as light. If you are interested, it is a process called chemiluminescence.I found that the kids understood the idea of a chemical reaction if you talk about mixing baking soda and vinegar, as most have done that.

Once we understood a little more about chemical reactions, I actually cut open one of the glow sticks. Each glow stick is actually made of two sticks; one plastic one that you feel, and one glass one that is lodged inside. When you crack a glow stick you are actually breaking the inner glass tube that releases one chemical into the other and presto, instant light!

Glow Paint

Let your participants paint a design on a black piece of paper without telling them that it is glow in the dark paint. Once they are finished, turn off the lights and watch their surprise. Once they've seen the affect, you can talk about the science behind it called photoluminescence (the paint absorbs photons and then releases them in the dark is the short answer hehe. Another way of thinking about it is the paint getting excited and then releasing this excitement as light, just like we might release our excitement by dancing).

Finally, we mixed some GAK with glow paint (but glow powder would work just as well). This experiment is fun to do no matter what, and seeing it glow in the dark after you mix it just makes it that much cooler =D

Messy Experiments!

So science experiments are some of our most popular programs, and one of our most popular science experiments programs is Messy Experiments. Why? Because its awesome!

As I've mentioned before, I love Steve Spangler, and these are the ones I stole this time :)

Diet Coke Mentos Geyser

If you drop a handful of Mentos into a full 2-liters of Diet Coke, you get a fabulously sticky and awesome geyser that goes about 20 feet up! Can't stress the fun and awesomeness of this one hehe.

Color Changing Milk 

Drop some food coloring into some milk, and then dip some dish-washing soap (I use Dawn) into the milk. The milk isn't a big fan of the dawn, so the colored milk runs away from the soap. Cool stuff!

Quicksand Goo (or Oblique)

If you add corn starch and water together in the right proportions, it will be hard if you hit it, but soft if you slide through it. Awesome!

Vinegar and Baking Soda...with a twist

If you put a layer of baking soda in a container, and then drop colored vinegar onto it, it smokes and leaves a cool design. Try it! I thought this was a fun twist on the vinegar and baking soda experiments that you normally see. Got this idea from Pinterest :)

Pop Rockets

Last but not least, get some old 35mm film canisters, put some water and alka-selzer into them, and watch what happens. Experiment with changing the level of water, the amount of alka-selzer, and the temperature of the water.

Experiments with Forces and Motion

As many of you know, the Hayden Library isn't open on holidays, so I wasn't able to post a Program Idea this Monday, which happened to be Memorial Day. But, I figured I'd give you one today, and move our Book Blurt to tomorrow.

Our Ka-Boom: Science Experiments program this month was about Forces and Motion, and it was pretty awesome!

When I look for science experiments, Steven Spangler's website is the first place I look, and this month was no exception :)

Do Not Open-Soda Prank

While this would be hillarious to actually try as a prank, it also works as a science experiment. If you poke holes in a soda bottle and then screw the lid back on, the water doesn't come out. Why?

Egg Drop

While Spangler calls for a pie dish and some eggs, I just use a paper plate and a juggling ball (doesn't make as much of a mess). But either way, this is a fun experiment that teaches kids about the law of inertia.

Hammer Balance

So one problem with remembering experiments instead of where you got them is that you can do the experiment again, but you can't point people to where you got it from. But luckily, this experiment isn't too hard to do. Basically, you put a ruler half on and half off a table, make a loop out of a string, and balance a hammer against the ruler. The top picture is what it looks like.

When you ask the kids if you can balance a hammer with a ruler, they don't think its possible, but they think its pretty cool when you can. They also like trying to see how far they can get the ruler off of the table before everything falls apart.

Magic Pendulum Catch

This may seem super simple, but it is currently my favorite experiment. If you have one hex nut on one side of a string, and fifteen hex nuts on the other, what does is create?

Tornado in a Bottle

Most likely everyone has doen this before. But, that doesn't mean it isn't fun to do it again hehe.

States of Matter Experiments

Another great idea for a science experiments program is talking about states of matter. I found some fun websites to help with these ideas, and another related topic I found was the surface tension of water. I've attached some links and explanations of what we did :)

Anti-Gravity Water

Everyone knows that when you turn a cup full of water upside down, all the aqua spills out. But, with a rag stretched over the surface of the glass, the water will literally defy gravity.

States of Matter Explanation

I've always had a hard time visualizing the different states of matter, so when I found this quick and easy way of thinking about it, I was really excited. Basically, you use different numbers of marbles to represent each state of matter.

Surface Tension

This website had several ideas that would be fun to do. Personally I used Stretch the Surface of Water and Cut and Connect Water Droplets.

Leak-Proof Bag

If you stab a pencil through a zipper lock bag, the water is going to leak out, right? Not if the bag is made out of a special kind of molecules called polymers, which your typical zipper lock bag is :)

Bubbling Lava Lamp

This fun experiment bubbles which is always a plus, and also lets you talk about the interaction between a solid, a gas, and a liquid.

Experiments with Light and Sound

I love doing science experiments with kids! First of all, there is the excitement and wonder in their eyes when you show them something they haven't seen before. But secondly, they start putting the ideas together for themselves, and that's when you know they are learning something from the experience, while having fun.

This month, I focused on experiments with light and sound. In the future, I might split these into two seperate topics because there are a lot of experiments that can be done with both. But, for now, we'll just take them as one.

Light

Stand about five feet away from a window, and face away from the window with a magnifying glass in your hand. Hold a piece of white paper in your other hand, and let the light shining through the magnifying glass hit the piece of paper. An upside down picture of whatever is outside the window will appear on the piece of paper.

This experiment is great for talking about lenses, cameras, and whether something is concave or convex.

Sound

Can you see sound? Of course not! Or can we? Spread some plastic wrap over the entire opening of a bowl, and put some rice on top of that. Grab two 2 liter bottles, and bang them together over the bowl. The rice will start to jump.

This experiment obviously shows sound waves in action, and can be used to introduce the topic, or show some effects of sound.

Other Resources

There are a whole bunch of science experiment books on the shelves at my library. A couple I used were Light: An Investigation by John Gorman, Light by Sally M. Walker, and Experiments with Light and Sound by Trevor Cook.

If you can't get over to your library, I just Googled "sound experiments" and "light experiments" and got more experiments than I knew what to do with. These three sites made my list.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~kogrange/sound_experiments.html

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/science-projects-for-kids-producing-sounds.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ESULJwIjY