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Night golf can be played using golf balls that glow in the dark. Glow necklaces and light sticks are
glowing plastic tubes that are popular in the evening at outdoor events and amusement parks.
Light sticks can also be included in survival kits as a light source. Where does the light come from
in these glowing devices? The answer lies in chemiluminescence – the production of light from a
chemical reaction.

LIGHT FROM A CHEMICAL REACTION

A light stick consists of two distinct parts: an outer plastic tube and an inner glass vial. The outer
plastic tube is sealed and contains a solution of a chemical called an ester and a fluorescent dye.
The inner glass vial is thin and breakable. It contains a solution of hydrogen peroxide. When the
stick is bent, the inner glass vial breaks, causing the two solutions to mix. The chemical reaction (a
redox reaction) between the two solutions produces the light.

The chemical reaction between the hydrogen peroxide solution and the ester solution releases
energy that is transferred to the fluorescent dye molecules. The excited dye molecules give off
their excess energy as light without any noticeable heat. That is why the light is referred to as cool
light.
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LIGHT FORM LIVING THINGS

Some living things can produce light in a process called bioluminescence. One of the most
common examples of bioluminescence is seen in fireflies, insects of the family Lampyridae. The
abdomen of the fireflies, glow during the mating season to attract potential mates. This type of light
is also a form of cool light, produced by chemical reactions in the cells of the firefly. During these
chemical reactions, energy is transferred to luminescent molecules, which, like the molecules of
dye in the light stick, become excited and emit energy as light. The chemical reactions in the firefly
are controlled by special enzymes called luciferases. The luciferase enzymes are produced in the
cells of the firefly’s abdomen and allow the light-producing chemical reactions to occur.

Many living things use bioluminescence to light their dark surroundings, attract their prey and
camouflage themselves. Organisms such as bacteria, protozoa, fungi, sponges, crustaceans,
insects, fish, squid, jellyfish and simple plants have been found to be bioluminescent.
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MIMICKING BIOLUMINESCENCE

The production of cool light by fireflies has been used as a model for the development of
chemiluminescent materials. Although the production of light by chemiluminescence has been
possible for some time, commercial applications were often not developed because the reactions
were relatively inefficient. The firefly produces light very efficiently through the chemical reactions
in the cells of its abdomen. However, in recent years chemical research has uncovered new, more
efficient chemiluminescent reactions. This has enabled the commercial production of
chemiluminescence techniques in scientific research.

USING CHEMILUMINESCENCE AND BIOLUMINESCENCE

The reactions that occur in chemiluminescence and bioluminescence have been adapted for use in
scientific research, medicine, ecology, hygiene and food quality control. Bioluminescence is used
when testing for tuberculosis to determine the most suitable antibiotic to give to the patient.
Scientists have used gene transfer technology to insert the firefly’s gene for making luciferase
enzymes into bacteria from tuberculosis patients. These bioluminescent bacteria are then tested
for their resistance to different antibiotics. The effectiveness of the antibiotics can be easily
determined by the amount of bioluminescence remaining. Bioluminescent bacteria have also been
used to test for mercury pollution in water. No doubt future scientists will find many more uses for
chemiluminescence and bioluminescence.

USING CHEMILUMINESCENCE TO ILLUSTRATE HOW TEMPERATURE AFFECTS

REACTION RATE
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Increasing the temperature will normally increase the rate of a chemical reaction. This occurs for
two reasons.

First, increasing the temperature increases the speed of the particles in liquids and gases. As a
result, particles collide more frequently, so more chemical reactions occur in a shorter amount of
time. Second, increasing the temperature gives the particles more energy. So, when the molecules
collide, chemical bonds are more likely to break and the atoms in the reactants can rearrange more
easily to form products.

There are many reasons for using heat to increase the rate of a reaction. When you bake a batch
of biscuits, you place it in the oven to increase the rate of chemical reactions that convert your
dough into biscuits. However, you can’t increase the temperature too much or the rate of reaction
will be so fast that the biscuits will burn before they are cooked all the way through. This is what
happened below.

Sometimes you want to decrease the rate of reaction by lowering the temperature. When you place
a carton of milk in the fridge, it slows the rate of the chemical reaction that turns milk sour.
Similarly, fruit farmers will transport their produce in refrigerated trucks to stop the fruit ripening
before it gets to market.

RATE OF REACTION: THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE

AIM: To determine how temperature affects the light intensity of light sticks.

MATERIALS REQUIRED PER GROUP: 2 light sticks, 2 beakers, iced water and hot water.

METHOD:

1. Set up an iced water beaker and a hot water beaker.

2. Start the light sticks glowing and darken the room as much as possible.

3. Place one light stick in a beaker of iced water and one in a beaker of hot water as shown below.

RESULTS:
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Light emitted in iced water Light emitted in hot water

Light lasts longer Lights lasts shorter

QUESTIONS

1. State what evidence there is that a chemical reaction is taking place inside the light sticks.

Energy is produced in the form of light

2. State what changing the temperature has done to the rate of reaction. Justify your answer based
on your observations.

Increasing the temperature has increased the rate of reaction whilst decreasing the temperature
decreases the rate of reaction. This can be shown through the experiment as the chemical reaction
that took place in the lightstick was performed faster when the environment around it was higher.
This faster rate of reaction made the lightstick lose its luminescence faster than one with a lower
temperature.

3. Light sticks work by a chemical reaction between hydrogen peroxide and a chemical called an
ester. A product of this reaction then causes a dye to emit light. Explain how temperature may be
affecting the reaction.

Increasing the temperature provides more energy to the reactant particles and they therefore move
faster. This increase the proportion of successful collisions due to the sufficient amount of energy
and the frequency of collisions which ultimately increases the rate of reaction.

4. In what ways are chemiluminescence and bioluminescence similar?

Both produce light energy by a chemical reaction

5. How do fireflies produce light in their abdomens?

The luciferase enzymes are produced in the cells of the firefly’s abdomen and allow the light-
producing chemical reactions to occur.

6. Why do fireflies produce this light?

To attract mates

7. How is bioluminescence used in looking for treatments for tuberculosis?

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It’s used to determine which is the most suitable antibiotic to use

8. What uses do other living things find for bioluminescence.

Jellyfish use it to scare away predators or to find mates

9. The table below gives the results of an experiment involving five reactions between hydrochloric
acid and marble chips (calcium carbonate).

(a) For each reaction (1 – 5), identify the correct graph (A-E). Give reasons for each of your
choices.

A – 5 (was one of the two reactions that produced the most carbon dioxide and the fastest rate out
of the two, meaning that it was 60mL of acid and water in powder form due to its greater surface
area)

B – 1 (was one of the two reactions that produced the most carbon dioxide but the slowest rate out
of the two, meaning that it was 60mL of acid and water in chip form due to its small surface area
compared to the other reaction that used the more efficient powder)
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C – 3 (was one of the two reactions that produced the 2 nd most carbon dioxide and the fastest rate
out of the two, meaning that it was 30mL of acid and water due to that being only shared in two
reactions and at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius as it was the fastest out of the two)

D – 2 (was one of the two reactions that produced the 2 nd most carbon dioxide but the slowest rate
out of the two, meaning that it was 30mL of acid and water due to that being only shared in two
reactions and at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius as it was the slowest out of the two)

E – 4 (produced the smallest volume of carbon dioxide meaning that it had the smallest volume of
reactants out of all the reactions)

D is 4, E is 2

Concentration is the same but the volume is different

(b) Which reaction was the fastest? Which was the slowest? How do you know?

A was the fastest reaction and D was the slowest, we can tell but the slope of the graph. A steeper
slope means a faster rate of reaction while a more gentle slope means a slower rate of reaction

(c) Which reaction finished first?

Reaction E finished first because the volume of gas produced stayed constant I the shortest time

10. What effect does each of the following have on a chemical reaction (speeds it up, slows it down
or has no effect)?

(a) Adding water to the reactants

Slows it down, lowers concentrations of one of the reactants in solution form therefore less

(b) Heating the reactants

Speeds it up, give more chemical energy, provide with increased kinetic energy move faster more
collision, more energy

(c) Increasing the amount of each reactant

No effect, since the concentration of the reactants is the same

(d) Increasing the concentration of the reactants

Speeds it up, more particles to collide with

(e) Lowering the temperature of the reactants

Slows it down, particles slow down, not enough sufficient energy

(f) Using the reactants in powdered form

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Speeds it up, increased surface area for the reactants to react with

11. The Law of Conservation of Mass states that the total mass of the reactants is always equal to
the total mass of the products. Keeping this in mind, explain the following:

(a) When a match burns, the mass of the charred wood and ash left is less than the original mass
of the match.

One of the products produced in this chemical reaction was a gas and was lost in the environment
which explains the reasoning to why the mass is less than the reactants.

(b) When steel wool burns, the mass of the blackened material is more than the original mass of
the steel wool.

Oxygen from the environment also reacts with the burning steel wool to produce an extra
unwanted substance which ultimately increases the mass.

Steel wool oxides and combines with oxygen from their air, making it heavier.

(c) As a plant grows, the mass of the plant is more than its original mass.

New cells are produced as the plant grows therefore increasing its mass

12. Use the words in the table below to complete the statements underneath.

AREA, CATALYSTS, CONCENTRATION, CONSERVATION, ENDOTHERMIC, EXOTHERMIC,

INCREASES, PRODUCTS, RATE, TEMPERATURE.

Some reactions occur slowly, while others occur quickly. The speed of a reaction is called its (1).

1: rate

The rate of a reaction usually (2) as the temperature increases. Similarly, the rate usually
decreases as the (3) decreases.

2: increases

3: temperature

Increasing the (4) of the reactants usually increases the rate of a reaction.

4: concentration

Increasing the surface (5) of the reactants usually increases the rate of a reaction.

5: area

(6) are substances that increase the rate of a reaction without being used up.

6: catalysts

Reactions that release energy are called (7). Reactions that take in energy are called (8).

7: exothermic
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8: endothermic

The law of (9) of mass says that the total mass of the reactants in a chemical reaction is always
equal to the total mass of the (10).

9: conservation

10: products