Does Temperature Affect Luminescence?Amber Klepacz and Devyn Gish

Abstract• For this project we decided to test how heat

energy affects the chemiluminescence and bioluminescence of glow sticks. We tested the brightness level of the glow sticks after sitting in water cups with different temperatures. Our hypothesis was that the glow stick in the freezing water would stay the brightest. We found that warm water actually made the glow stick stay the brightest.

Materials• 4 blue glow sticks• 4 Styrofoam cups• Freezing, cold, warm, and boiling water• Stopwatch• Dark room

Hypothesis• If a glow stick is placed into different

temperatures of water, the freezing cold water will make the glow stick stay the brightest, and the boiling hot water will make the glow stick the dullest.

Procedure• Label the cups: “Freezing”, “Cold”, “Warm”, “Hot”• Fill Freezing cup with ice water, cold cup with cold

tap water, warm cup with warm tap water, hot cup with boiling water

• Crack glow sticks and simultaneously place them into the cups of water

• Stir glow sticks and check the luminescence after one minute, five minutes, and one hour

• Rate the luminescence on a scale of 1-4, 4 being the brightest and 1 being the dullest

Data Recorded

Time: HOT WARM COLD FREEZING

1 min 4 4 2 2

5 mins 3 4 2 1

1 hour 2 3 2 1

Conclusion:• In the end, we found that the warm water stayed

the brightest, and next was the hot water, then the cold water, then the freezing water.

References• http://www.powermasters.com/heat_energy.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemiluminescence• http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/keep

-light-sticks-lit-up-longer/