Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My teacher told me to elaborate my question 'How would temperature affects how long the blue light produce?"

i need help for this, I really can't think of anything to expand this question, he told me that he can answer this question by using his own knowledge.

Hi Zogli,
Have you read about the luminol project at the science buddies project ideas page?
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... background

That might help you to expand the question. Also, that page lists two additional links which might also give you some ideas!

This sounds like a fun project! Be sure to let us know if you have more questions!

Madeline B

Hi,

I assume you are doing the chemiluminescence project on Scibuddies (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... background) Is that right?

To answer your question, think about what you know of chemical reactions. Do they go faster at higher temperatures? Slower in the cold? The production of light by luminol in the presence of a metal such as copper or iron is a chemical reaction. Here's more information about chemiluminescence if you need it: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/homeexpts/chemilum.html

If you want more help, let us know.

Good luck!

Sybee

Thank you very much for your help, and now my another teacher again ask me what are benefits of this project? she asked me whats this project will help us in the future.

The purpose of Science Buddies expert forum is to provide suggestions and advice on science projects and experiments.If you need help with designing or implementing a project we will be happy to assist you.

Sybee

SciB

I know this is the purpose of the website, but I cannot figure it out what are the benefits of this project. My teachers seems don't like me because of the benefits. They don't really help me, they're just complaining in my project. And thank you for replying

Hi there,

If you take a look at the background information for this project (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... background), you may be able to find some inspiration for convincing your teacher that this project is important! For example, the background mentions that luminol is used by crime scene investigators to detect areas where there is blood. So one potential benefit of this project could be that you are exploring different factors that can change how much light the luminol reaction is producing, and these results may provide insight into how to improve luminol for use by crime scene investigators. For other ideas, you can certainly do a bit more research about luminol and see what other applications it is used for, and how these experiments may provide insight to help improve the efficiency of these applications.

Good luck,
Connie

You might want to indicate what causes the blue light in the first place. What chemical reactions lead to the emission of the blue light? Are enzymes involved? Some products, reactants, and catalysts are sensitive to heat and temperature.

Thank you to all of you! it helps a lot. And I have a question, I can see the brightness of the different temperature right, so does only looking in the picture can it give me a proper result? or is there any website or a camera option that i can see measure of the brightness?

Hi,

Did you mean to measure the actual brightness when looking at the glowstick or the brightness on the photograph? There are light meter apps that you can download for a smartphone to measure the brightness of a light source directly. If you want to measure the brightness of an image in a photo, however, you need to use a program called Scion Image (http://www.nist.gov/lispix/imlab/prelim/dnld.html).

Let us know what you need to do and we will try to help.

Sybee

Thank you, but I went to the website but seems like i don't know where to go. I went to the plugins category and I tried to find about the brightness. can you help with this.

Oh, I just saw that scion corp is no longer available.

Oh, sorry. The link i sent was an old one that is no longer usable. Try this: http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/

ScionImage is now called ImageJ but it is still a free download. The website has tutorials on how to use it and you can check youtube for video instructions such as this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zgvo6GBdX8

The software is pretty easy to use once you learn the commands and you will be able to accurately measure the brightness of your images and compare them.

If you get stuck on using it, I can try to help.

Good luck!

Sybee

oh Thank you, sorry I'm so late again. from the procedures from here https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... background I'm just adding the water? can I make my luminol solution before I combined it to water? like what inside the glows stick.

Hi,

I'm not sure i understood your question. According to the instructions you should mix all the dry ingredients first and put them into the cups and THEN add the water to start the light reaction. Be sure you have the camera set up the with correct exposure time before you add the water. Also, remember to measure the temperature of the water and record it in your lab book. Start a timer after you add the water and record the times when you take the photos.

Does this answer your question?

Sybee

yes, and for the perborate mixture, can I use the borax?

No. Borax is sodium tetraborate--not the same chemical at all. Aren't you were using the kit that contains the copper sulfate, luminol and perborate?

You should never substitute one chemical for another. If the reaction calls for perborate then you have to use that.

Sybee