Many inquisitive chemists and novice chemists surf the Internet in search of curious experiments. And for sure they come across various kinds of luminous liquids, flowers or vegetables. And although they write that all works, and that their own hands are not difficult to do, it is not necessary to blindly trust it all. And most of what they write these homegrown scientists should not even try to check, so as not to repeat other people’s stupidity and ridiculous mistakes.
Luminous flower with their own hands:
On the Internet you can find a lot of ways and tips to make an ordinary flower unusually beautiful (well, for example, make a luminous flower). It sounds unusual, beautiful and tempting, and at first glance affordable and simple. It is only necessary to take sulfur from under matches, finely grind it and dissolve in alcohol, then inject it into a flower or a vegetable, after that also inject hydrogen peroxide there. They say and show that it glows in the dark, I am not a chemist and can not assert but! Do not believe everything they write! First of all sulfur from matches does not dissolve in alcohol – I tried it myself and nothing good came out of it. Secondly, when I added hydrogen peroxide, there was not even a hint of luminescence. I used ordinary hydrogen peroxide, sold in a simple drugstore, ordinary matches and nothing came out.
Although there is a logic in this experiment, for sure the composition of sulfur includes a variety of substances, maybe there are some phosphors – but I do not venture to assert, but only want to say that the experience is a failure, and not worth the effort to try it.
Luminol and peroxide luminescence:
But the novice chemist should not give up, deceived by dubious advice. It is possible to observe reactions with chemiluminescence at home, although one cannot do without special reagents. Interesting and beautiful light effects can be observed, experimenting with various kinds of phosphors. One of the cheap and available luminophores is luminol, I think it is not difficult to buy in a warehouse chemicals.
Chemiluminescence of luminol can be observed in a simple mixture consisting of water (acts as a solvent) and hydrogen peroxide.
The luminescence of luminol is quite well enhanced by adding a substance that breaks down into free radicals, the initiator.
As a matter of fact, the chemiluminescence of luminol (according to White) looks like this:
The main thing is that before you try any experiment with various kinds of chemicals, read everything that is written about them, so as not to harm yourself or people, because chemistry is serious.
Not all of the advice found on the Internet works in practice, but most of them are very useful, and since in science a negative result is also a result, go more often to bip-mip.com for new ideas.
