"Ghost metal" (chemistry trick)

In a variation of luminol chemiluminescence, we make a coin appear to glow with ghostly trails.

Get 10mg of luminol and dissolve it in 10mL of 10% ammonia solution, the exact concentration isn't critical. Then add 1mL of 3% hydrogen peroxide and dilute the whole solution into 100mL of distilled water.

Get a piece of copper metal, a penny will do, and drop it in with the lights out.

The penny will start to glow as the surface dissolves to form a copper amine complex. The complex catalyzes the reaction of hydrogen peroxide on luminol and causes the solution near the coin to glow. Bright trails can be seen if the copper is moved.

Eventually the concentration of copper in solution rises to the point that all of solution glows and masks the glow near the coin. The reaction will quickly extinguish as the luminol is used up.

It seems the reaction works best with copper. I wasn't able to get it work with iron.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Chemistry
• science
• glow
• stick
• Light

[ryan15152000]

I never knew Jigsaw was a chemist.

[arleas]

It's amusing how youtube thinks there's a song being played here by some artist named Metal.

[pyrotechnics100]

if i use copper powder or copper sulfate, will it glow better?

[Zarnirox]

It's the ghost of Lincoln! He's out for vengeance! :O

[YooEssBee1]

@ryan15152000 yeah how do you think he got his hands on that hydrofluoric acid ?

[xXColtr1Xx]

Do you do something to your voice, or is it actually that deep?

[danoffury]

first thing that comes to mind... nuke cola quantum!! me gusta

[foozbong]

So, what exactly causes the luminol to stop reacting, is there a way to slow that process, or keep it constant? Obviously it would eventually dissolve th copper, so probably not a good idea for a light source...



[mytoypapercut]

@rickyoswald friend dies and scientist lives haha nice

[JesusHitlerForPrez]

Thats a really pretty experiment

[senkojin1]

fellow nurds.... were going to play a game...

[SavedJesusFreak]

@NurdRage Kinda lame compared to your normal stuff man