So my eldest's son had a desire to be a stickman! I think of many many ways and saw a friend did this stickman dance with her boys, then I thought maybe we could try this too!
So first of all, I bought many glow-in-the-dark sticks! I got them from the online shopping platfrom in bulk, like 100 pcs for RM9.80 after discount. It was really a good deal! However, the perks is some of them could not light up! Maybe it is due to old stocks kept for very long.
Anyway, how does the glow sticks work?
According to How Stuff Works,
The chemical reaction in a light stick usually involves several different steps. A typical commercial light stick holds a hydrogen peroxide solution and a solution containing a phenyl oxalate ester and a fluorescent dye.
The hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the phenyl oxalate ester, resulting in a chemical called phenol and an unstable peroxyacid ester.
The unstable peroxyacid ester decomposes, resulting in additional phenol and a cyclic peroxy compound.The cyclic peroxy compound decomposes to carbon dioxide.
This decomposition releases energy to the dye.
The electrons in the dye atoms jump to a higher level, then fall back down, releasing energy in the form of light.
What happens when we bend the sticks?
How Stuff Works also explains that when we bend the light sticks, it activated it!
A light stick consists of a glass vial, containing one chemical solution, housed inside a larger plastic vial, containing another solution. When you bend the plastic vial, the glass vial breaks, the two solutions flow together, and the resulting chemical reaction causes a fluorescent dye to emit light.
Okay so I went to study how the glow in the dark sticks work because I wanted to understand why some did not work. Maybe I have bent them and the chemical reaction won't hold up for too long. Some people actually mentioned that placing the glow sticks in the fridge can slow down the reaction between the two substances and "prolong" the glowing duration.
Anyway....
It was the night when I tried to set the sticks up on the son. We needed to use big cellophane tapes and the connectors given.
Firstly, we attached the connectors on the sticks and bent them to make sure they have colours.
Then, we tape the sticks that are joined together on my son. Thank goodness for @iamjadeline's help because it was not as easy as I thought. The son stood still and patiently for us to "dress him up". We taped some of the sticks to his arms and legs and he ended up walking like a robot.
Finally it was his "fashion show" time with ALL LIGHTS OFF!!! He admired himself in the reflection of the television many rounds until he was not dancing. He was afraid that the sticks might fall off so he did not really dare to dance.
My youngest som and my nephew also joined in the fun to swing their glow in the dark rings and spectacles in the dark and sticks around.
All in all, we fulfilled my son's desire to be a stickman. It was actually funny and amusing to look at. The boys still enjoy playing with the glow in the dark sticks at home. I too enjoyed them because I used to play them when I was a young child too.
