NurdRage - 2011-02-10
we show how to make flowers glow in the dark under ultraviolet light using a fluorescent dye. You really only need two things, an ultraviolet lamp and a fluorescent highlighter. Open the highlighter and squeeze a few drops of the fluorescent ink into a cup of water. Now take the flower (i find white carnations to be the best) and cut the stem underneath the solution. Leave the flower in overnight and the dye will have been absorbed into the flower. Now simply shine an ultraviolet light onto the flower to cause the highlighter dye to glow. whats amazing is that the glow isn't uniform but will glow bighter in areas where the dye accumulates. Often this gives a more complex pattern to the flower. So for valentine's day, give glow in the dark flowers.
I've been wondering, do they still glow when dried out? Also, how long do they last. Can you soak it longer to make it glow brighter/longer?
This is amazing! I've done this with normal food dies but had no idea this could be done with highlighters! I'm trying in later :)
i love it!!! its really cool how the dye is uneven, more prominent at the tips... really beautiful photograph! happy valentines day nurd rage!
Hey NurdRage thanks for the new video. I have eagerly waited for something new from you and remember that you can always count me in as a devoted subscriber. Everything you publish has good quality and I thank you for that. Cheers Natt
The picture you show is beautiful! I love this and I want to try it!
What is the best kind of ultraviolet light you'd recommend for the best "glowing" effect? And would other fluorescent lighters work? (dumb question, I know, but wanted to make sure)
You know what would be cool? A time lapse video of the flowers drinking the dye overnight, that way you'd see the fluoresence travel through the plant.
THIS WAS SO AWESOME!! I am so going to try this next chance I get...
This could be really useful for decorating special events at dance clubs, or even making a glowing lapel carnation or corsage to wear when going out to a place with black lights.
This is a awesome non-dangerous experiment but could you use different fluorescent colors instead of using a highlighter dye?
wow, very cool, im biology major and have a ton of chemistry ahead of me, thank you for your interesting experiments, some of these im gonna bring up to see if we can do them in class!!!
Oh, that's awesome! I don't know why I never thought of that. I used to dye them with food coloring.
This is a pretty awesome idea!
It's also fun to split the stem up the middle and put some in one color dye and one in another.
Wow, that was really cool. Thanks for this!
I still remember last year's vid. Glad to see you aren't breaking hearts this time around, NurdRage...^_~ Also, a question. Would you get different colours with different highlighter dyes? Just wondering.
can you use the fluorescent highlighter dye for glow sticks too?
Very cool, nice upgrade on the old trick of adding food colouring (or other non fluorescent dye) to the water!
can you use the fluorescent dye from highlighters for glowsticks too?
i like your nerd rage sign how it glows, also great idea i think i will do this for my mom :)
What is the best kind of ultraviolet light you'd recommend for the best "glowing" effect?
My girlfriend loved the flowers I made her!!! White roses work very well (so do daises). Yellow and non-fluorescent-blue were the only colors that worked (failed: orange, green, pink, purple). My guess is molecular size of the dye affecting progress; time to do some chromatography. OooOoH!! New idea: flower chromatography to get stripes of different colors!
oh god, this is a brilliant idea! I never thought of THIS! :D
Is there a way to make them "store" light, like in the glow in the dark powder?
This is SUCH a great idea!!!! :D
This will be a great valentines day treat for someone!
Would it be possible to make a flower glow in the dark using the reagents for making a glow stick? If you could prolong the fluorescence reaction (or delay the accumulation of one reagent versus the other) using glow stick chemicals, you could make a flower glow without direct excitation from UV light.
can you make a glow in the dark flower without the UV light using the glow stick solution you made in one of your past videos?
Is it possible to do the same but have it give off it's own light? Maybe use sugar as a fuel to make it really bright? Thanks for the great vids, keep up the great work!
this is awesome! what kind of uv light did you use and where can i get one to do this?
Would you achieve the same effect if you were to water potted flowers with the same mixture?
@CyberloxLioness it seems to work best on carnations. I tried it with white roses but it worked very badly. I suggest experimenting and find out :)
@NurdRage does the fluerescent Highlighter dye also work for glowsticks? the chemicals you named in your video are rather hard to get or are to expensife for me
as i have very limited experience with black light illumination, i am thinking differing coloured highlighters would present differing if only marginally coloured effects. my mother is a florist; i would love to do this for her ;-)
@coderdude99 this actually ended up working for me, i just kept adding more highlighter fluid with less water. and changed from sharpie to papermate. i also kept cutting the carnation stem shorter and shorter each time. after 3 days it showed in the center of the flower then about 5 days in it was all through the pedals. youll also need a more power uv/blacklight to see it like he does ive found
Very cool... this actually gives me an idea for studying how different plants distribute water.
Hello Sir, I am a huge follower of your relevant & worldly practicalities. I have seen almost all of your videos .. Liked them and commented. I have conducted most the experiments at my fume hood. I & my friends are always amazed of your work. today i want to ask you a big favor... I know its hard for u to take time for an unkown stranger like me but even then,,,
thanks for sharing this. If you want to kick it up a notch, split the stem into 2 or 3 legs... put each in a different color uv dye.... you'll get a bi or tricolor flower :)
@briandawkings You could try regular roses, but the white one that I used was very good because there were no natural pigments that could obscure the highlighter color. I'd say you should try it!
I made my girlfriend some of these for her birthday. We had great fun shining our BluRay lasers at them! :D Since then i've been making some flourescent waters using the same method. But i have a question. Why is blue highlighter ink not flourescent? I was trying to mix white, but i ended up with yellow because i couldn't add blue because it's not flourescent.
Cool. I actually have done this with ink and a split stem. Half the petals got red in them , the other half blue. Still glow in the dark flowers are way cooler.
Do you think it's possible to do the same with actually glowing chemicals like the stuff in glowsticks? I think that's way more impressive, because you can pick any color you want.
A small additional question: How do I manage to get UV-light on my flowers?
I love glow in the dark stuff. Lol if a guy ever gave me UV fluorescing flowers for Valentine's Day I'd be the happiest nerd girl ever!
Do you think this process could be done with phosphorescent pigments or yes for an effect that doesn't need a black light? or would that kill the plant. either way I think if you split the stem properly, you can end up with getting it to have a heterogeneous mix of colors by putting parts of the stem into different fluorescent dyes.
That's way cooler than what we did in third grade with carnations and food coloring. :D
NurdRage that is awesome! But you know, I always thought why give a store bought flower, when you can make your own hand crafted wooden flower ;)
Will these glow in the dark normally, or is the UV light required?
thats super cool! could be really awesome for a halloween party!
CaptainPhen - 2011-02-18
Hey NurdRage! I really like your videos and I keep getting surprised with every new experiment you upload but I have a question about this one. Does this 'glowing water' affect the flower's lifespan? And, for how long does the water provides with phosphorescence the flower? Thanks and keep up the cool videos!