Black light is also called ultraviolet (UV) light. Black light can make some materials glow — materials such as highlighter pens, white t-shirt, sometimes even your teeth! Just flash the black light and watch these things glow. Police use black light in the crime scenes to detect some materials that can’t be seen with our eyes. So, go ahead and make your very own black light, check out the glowing chemistry black light activity below.
Parental Involvement: Low
Duration: 15 minutes
Skills Acquired: Explore, Fine Motor, Creativity
Materials
- Flashlight of your smartphone/Torchlight
- Sketch pens/ markers – blue & violet
- Cellophane tape
- Fluorescent coloured paper/highlighter pens
- A pair of scissors
Instructions for Glowing Chemistry Black Light Activity
- Place a strip of tape over the light. If you’re using your smart phone, cover the flashlight. If you’re using a torchlight, cover the entire light surface.
- Using your blue sketch pen or marker, cover the entire light surface over the tape.
- Place a piece of tape over the coloured tape and colour it with the blue sketch pen again.
- Cut another strip of tape over the coloured tape, and colour using the violet sketch pen.
Now place strips of fluorescent papers and turn on your black light! You can even place a white t-shirt and see it glow under the black light.
Science Behind It
UV light waves are invisible to the eye. When we create a UV light or black light, we are creating a ‘phosphorus coating’ on the light source. When we place items such as the fluorescent paper or white t-shirt in front of the UV light, the phosphor from these items is illuminated because the phosphor coating on the UV light reacts with them making the item glow.
Activity done by Vishwajeet