I was looking at Beyond Issue for something unrelated but came across the Ameriglo Light Sticks that they carry. That reminded me that I still had a handful of them that were getting to be quite old. In fact, when I dug them out, I found that they had “expired” in 2006. This seemed like a good opportunity for a test or at least some short lived glow in the dark fun for my daughters.
I opened up one of the sticks and cracked it to begin the chemical reaction that would cause it to glow. To my surprise, it glowed very brightly for several hours and then continued to glow faintly but enough to be seen from across a dark room for about 48 hours. That is pretty good for a light stick that is 6 years beyond its shelf life.
The test also reminded me how much I like the Ameriglo light stick form factor. They have a soft lashing point and a hard lashing point on the top that works very well. The large hook is designed to give way easily so the light stick can be pulled off a cord in order to be dropped somewhere. The smaller hole is for more permanent mounting. Only the military contract Cyalume sticks that I have seen have a similar system.
Visit Beyond Issue to pick up some Ameriglo Light Sticks.
Very cool to hear that they still worked to some extent even 6 years after expiration!
Fun fact: My dad actually helped engineer the chemicals (or the reaction) that work in a lot of these glow sticks during his stint at GE. Sadly his skills as a chemist did not rub off that well so my contributions to glow stick technology are far more modest! 😉
That is really cool Dan.