Basic Information
A glowstick is a lighting device that consists of a transparent plastic tube consisting of two seperate compartments containing mutually reactive chemicals. When the tube is bent and shaken the two compartments are ruptured and their contents mix, creating a phosphorescent glow. The stick will then glow until the chemicals have reacted out and cease to phosphoresce.
Glowsticks are generally non-hazardous unless the contents are ingested, giving off no harmful radiation - not even significant heat, the reagents are generally non-flammable and the reaction process does not spark or otherwise generate hazards.
Intensity and wavelength of light will depend on the exact formulation (and, therefore, the price) - the most common ones are green or blue in colour but others exist. It is possible to alter the formulations so that they emit primarily UV or IR light, although these are expensive and less common.
Due to their long shelf life and non-hazardous nature, glowsticks are popular sources of emergency light and are increasingly replacing hand-held flares in many applications. Again, because they are generally safe to handle, a lit stick can even be taped to a user without significant risk. Very low spec glowsticks are also used as costume accessories - usually in the form of bracelets or headbands to be worn in dark environments.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- These are fairly standard exploration kit by the 21st century, cheaply available in most parts and outposts of the developed world.
- As noted, they should also appear in emergency kits in various forms of transport, especially aircraft where old school flares are mysteriously unwelcome.
- UV sticks could be used with the correct type of night vision goggles, in various kinds of fluoresecence tests or just to annoy some kinds of vampires.
- UV or IR glowsticks may appear broken to casual users - generally giving only a fitful glow at best in the visual spectrum. Professional rescuers may find a pile of them discarded where users unaware that they are dealing with a non-visual stick have desperately triggered every stick in the pack and assumed they were all defective.