Posts Tagged chemistry
Glow sticks—bright full (not frightful) for fun, safe Halloweening
The daylight here in Minnesota continues to dwindle depressingly, going from nearly 12 hours on the first of October to about 10 hours on the 31st. Therefore, it will be welcome, albeit brief, relief to see glow-stick-waving trick-or-treaters coming by on Halloween night. These colorful light-emitting wands add a lot of pizzazz to the celebration, but most importantly, they make it far safer, especially along my sidewalk-less suburban street.
For the history of this chemiluminescent invention and the science behind it see this week’s feature by Chemical and Engineering News detailing “What are glow sticks, and what’s the chemical reaction that makes them light up?”.
Glow sticks flare out far too fast—only lasting for about 8 to 12 hours, which makes the annual Halloween far more precious. Now we must contend with several weeks of increasingly dark, cold and dreary days (I dislike November very much!) until relief comes with Thanksgiving and the full-on display of holiday lights. However, glow sticks can be bought cheaply just after Halloween. Why not break one out on a nightly basis to bridge the holiday gap? Brighten up!
By the way, if you have ever been tempted to crack open a tube of chemiluminescent fluid, first watch this YouTube video by TKOR (The King of Random). Do not try this at home, especially rubbing the contents on your teeth to make them glow.
Mixing beers — synergy of zymurgy?
This Sunday during the NFL playoffs, Guiness beer ran one of their ongoing television commercials featuring two eccentric, but (self-styled) “brilliant,” zymurgists. Try this “z” word for a trivia question — the last one in most dictionaries. It refers to those that study fermentation in brewing.
That brought to mind my experience last week at Granite City Brewery — a midwestern USA restaurant that features handcrafted beers. Seeing my befuddled look at the overwhelming selection of suds, the waiter offered the suggestion that I go for a 50-50 blend of the paler ales (the stouter stuff like Guiness is too much for me).
Given my affinity for experimenting, I liked this idea of mixing beers. It worked out a lot better than the last time I tried something novel: Pouring cream into my mug of carbonated beverage. That mixture succeeded for entertainment value — producing an effect like a lava lamp, but it tasted really bad. I do not recommend it.
Aside from the Guiness guys, who seem far too goofy (sampling too much?) to be as brilliant as they think, the fellow I’d bank on for blending drinks would be John Cornell. He co-authored what must be one of the more unusual scientific articles ever: “In Search of the Optimum Harvey Wallbanger Recipe via Mixture Experiment Techniques”.
I’ve heard of beer cocktails such as the whisky-spiked boilermaker — a variant being the “depth charge”. However, it seems that the practice of mixing one beer with another is mainly for salvaging a botched brew. Thus, whereas blends of white wine, and to some extent reds, are the rage in California, the same phenomena remains to be seen for beers. I see a real opportunity here for some research by zymurgists. My advice is that they study the statistical methods promoted by Cornell and made easy by Stat-Ease software, training and consulting. I volunteer to be on the sensory panel that rates the results.