Whether they’re toys that shine in the night, black lights, glow
sticks or fireflies, things that produce an eerie glow are
fascinating. Give a kid a glow-in-the-dark toy or paper her
ceiling in dimly shining plastic stars, and she will be occupied
forever. She’ll find ever brighter lights to charge them up,
ever darker places to view them for maximum glow effect, and
generally love exploring how it all works. You know this; you
were that kid. So what’s the deal with the glow? Learn how to
make this amazing looking glow-in-the-dark cocktail over at
Neatorama It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your electrons are?
While there are several “flavors” of things that glow, they all
have something in common: Things glow because photons are
emitted when “excited” (at a higher energy state) electrons drop
back to a lower, more stable state. Aside from promising them a
pony or a tour of CERN, there are several ways to get your
electrons excited. In chemical glow sticks, a chemical reaction
excites the electrons. This proces