Student Uses Glow Sticks to Make Scientific World Brighter

Name: Lucy Lin

School: Eighth-grader at Eyer Middle School

Accomplishment: First-place winner in the chemistry category at the Region 3 science fair of the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science. This region includes Schuylkill, Berks, Lehigh, Carbon and Northampton counties. 

She also took home a $25 cash award.

Key to Awesomeness: In Lucy’s project "How Temperature Affects Luminosity," she tested the luminescence of glow sticks and phosphorescent (glow-in-the-dark) paint at different temperatures. She used 0-, 20-, 40-, 60- and 80-degree Celsius water. “I would soak them in that degree of water and then ‘charge’ the paint or break the glow sticks, and then measure the light decay and duration of the light emitted from these objects to see how temperature affected luminosity,” she said. Some of the sticks had a brighter or longer glow, she said, depending on the temperature.

Lucy’s favorite subjects in school are science and math. A violinist, she is a member of the school orchestra and the school Chamber Ensemble. She is also on the school cross country team and Math Counts team. In her spare time, Lucy enjoys reading, writing, drawing and playing piano.

Upon graduation, she plans to attend college, but has no idea where or what she wants to study.