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I think that your friend was pulling your leg. The oxalate esters and hydrogen peroxide in a glow stick shouldn't be ingested, though the actual dye that gets e
by philipkglass 9y ago
I think that your friend was pulling your leg. The oxalate esters and hydrogen peroxide in a glow stick shouldn't be ingested, though the actual dye that gets excited to fluorescence would be relatively harmless. I also wouldn't expect the concentrations of active materials to remain high enough in urine for the glow reaction to be noticeable, even if all the chemicals were excreted unchanged.
- refurb 9y agoPlus hydrogen peroxide is not that stable in acidic condition (i.e. your stomach) and your body is fully of peroxidases that catalytically breakdown peroxides quite quickly.
- DennisP 9y agoHe was referring to the military version, would that be the same? It would not be surprising if he was pulling my leg, we were a group of practical jokers. And this story made me swear off ever doing anything to him; in retrospect maybe that was the intent.
- philipkglass 9y agoYes, military glow sticks use the same basic chemistry: hydrogen peroxide, diphenyl oxalate or analogs, various excitable dyes that actually produce the different colors.
- thret 9y agoYep, glow sticks are glow sticks. Ours come in fancy camo packaging though so you know they're suitable for lighting the portaloo.
- mrguyorama 9y agoCheck out NileRed's video [0] for some great info. He is a young chemist who produces chemistry videos on youtube and goes into detail of things while still being understandable for someone who did well in high school chemistry [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_CYwd6cHUA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_CYwd6cHUA