Posts Tagged ‘glow in the dark’

Glow in the Dark!

Sunday, October 4th, 2009 by Lena

A lot of preventable night accidents have happened due to poor lighting and visibility. How many stories have we heard of bikers or joggers bumped into oblivion because they were virtually invisible? Who can be blamed?  As car drivers, we know that there are certain angles that are blind spots to us, most especially at night, not counting those rainy, foggy or even snowy nights where visibility could be near zero.

Nite-ize is a company that manufactures L.E.D. (light emitting diode) accessories that have proven to be useful and life-saving gadgets.  The company actually has a line for mobile, hardware and flashlight accessories too.  Its L.E.D. products are its best sellers.

Bike accessories are varied. There is the L.E.D Bike Light that you can put as safety markers for your front and back wheels. You can also opt to get the L.E.D headlight and tail light.  Spoke lights are also available

Nite-ize Sortsvest

Nite-ize Sortsvest

If you enjoy jogging at night, it is best to wear a magic marker to attach to be used as an arm band or as attachment to your belt or backpack. It has a 1-mile visibility, flexible and lightweight, shock and weather resistant and has a 100,000 hours L.E.D life and easy to replace batteries.   If you want real visibility, get the L.E.D. sports vest. You can just about use it for jogging, biking and even for rescue missions!  The vest has a 100,000 L.E.D life, 150 hours battery life, lightweight and shock-proof.

Other Nite-ize safety reflective products are: cinch marker, clip-on marker, stick-on marker, helmet marker. All Nite ize products can be used as is, no battery needed for they are all made of reflective materials. The L.E.D. light provided in each product is the “awesome” part because of its push button mode for two types of light emission: glow or flash.

L.E.D Wands

L.E.D Wands

The L.E.D wand comes in four colors: blue, green, red and white. These wands are powered by Inova® Microlight™ flashlight. The wands can be used for safety markers, dive markers, emergency flares, and even beacons as the wands have four functions: high power, low power, strobe and signal mode. This wand is a must have as this could be useful around the house. Equipping your car with one is highly recommended too.

For the fun part, L.E.D powered carabiner and collars for dogs, illuminated flying discs, are also available. These are not actually senseless products as you usually take your dog for a walk at night. Why, you can even throw a few rounds of flashlights flying discs to your dog, not because the dog need to “see” the disc but the flashlight is for your sake and other people’s safety.

Gloflex Tape

Gloflex Tape

There is another option to make you safe and glowing at night. Most training and running shoes have reflectors for the very same purpose – for you to be seen at night. However, there is a cheaper way to get yourself, your bike, your car, your pet to glow at a very reasonable price. Buy a Cyalume Glo-Flex Tape. At SGD 29.90 per a 30-inch roll, this is a steal!

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Cyalume Light Sticks – How do they work?

Monday, July 20th, 2009 by Lalu

“LIGHT STICK GLOW IN THE DARK!”

Light (Glow) sticks have not only become  an essential item for tactical forces and outdoor enthusiasts around the world but also for  party and concerts staple since they were being invented around 25 years ago.

6inch_glow

Have you ever wondered how do the glow sticks work? Lightsticks do not require bulb nor batteries to operate!  While it may seem like supernatural magic, we are going to tell you the technology behind light sticks ( which actually is very simple!) in this entry.

breaking

A typical commercial light stick contains a Hydrogen Peroxide solution, a solution containing  a phenyl oxalate ester, and a fluorescent dye. Before you activate the light stick, two solutions are kept in separate chambers. The phenyl oxalate ester and dye solution fills most of the plastic stick itself. The hydrogen peroxide solution, called the activator, is contained in a small, fragile glass vial in the middle of the stick. When you bend the plastic stick, the glass vial snaps open, and the two solutions flow together. The chemicals immediately react to one another.

light-stick-diagram
Here’s the sequence of events when the two above solutions are combined:

1. 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.

4. This decomposition releases energy to the dye.

5. Electrons in the dye atoms jump to a higher

level, then fall back down, releasing energy in the form of light.
This is how the light sticks produces light. The particular dye used in the chemical solution gives the light its distinctive color.

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If you want a brighter light to be emitted from the stick, you may heat it.  Heat energy will accelerate the reaction between the chemicals and the stick will glow brighter, but for a shorter amount of time. If you cool the light stick, the reaction will slow down, and the light will dim. So f you want to preserve your light stick for the next day, put it in the freezer. It will not stop the lighting process, but it will drag out the reaction considerably.

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