DIY Compact Survival Kit

Step 4: Chemical Light Stick.

Chemical light sticks are great in that they almost never expire and they are very multipurpose. It will not be used for what most people think it is used for. Most people use these chemical light sticks as lights for tents, or even just parties. But the light stick can also make an amazing signaling tool at night.

The human eye tends to notice things that are perfect. Whether it be a perfectly straight line, or a perfect circle. This is because nothing in nature is perfect. With the light stick, you will tie about 8 feet of fishing line, or cordage to the end of it. Then simply spin it in a circle. This creates a bright perfect circle, which at night, can be very useful for signaling. This technique is done by the special forces, and the helicopter pilots can see them very well.

Comments

[KJR101]

"Chemical light sticks are great in that they almost never expire"

Sorry but this is wrong, shelf life on lightsticks is about a year, and yes I know they can last along time too. Oxygen depletes them (that’s why there in a foil wrapper). Also cold will slow down (Dim) or even stop the chemical reaction. Hold it next to your body if cold, to warm prior to snapping. Also there are two types of lightsticks the regular long lasting, 6-12hrs and Hi-intensity, about 30 min, but at least twice as bright! (Better for signaling!)

Thanks!
Good info So far

[eranox]

Aside from the high-intensity models, lightsticks have different usable durations due to the color of the light produced. Red ones (and infrared for us army guys) last the longest, at about 12 hours. As you move up the spectrum to blue and violet, the useful span of the lightstick gets shorter, to around 6 hours for blue and violet lights.

The reason behind this is that toward the violet end of the spectrum the colors have shorter wavelengths (higher frequency), and therefore more energy is required to produce those colors of light. T1ZKeR in his earlier comment had the theory right, but had the wavelengths backwards. He is correct in that the higher-frequency colors penetrate better, and so can be more easily seen in less-than-clear conditions.

In most outdoor situations, you'll find a lot of green foliage, depending on the season. A green light illuminates this best, and the further a color of light is from the color of the surrounding terrain, the more poorly it will illuminate it, for the most part. In the dark, you'll find that red illuminates poorly compared to the other colors, which is a reason why it is often used when one wants to preserve their night vision.

I find that yellow is the best blend of visibility, illumination, and runtime, as it tends to last 8 or 9 hours and is quite bright. It would definitely be my choice in a survival situation.

[T1ZKeR]

High contrast not withstanding;

Red light wavelengths (think infrared) are the shortest light wavelengths visible to the naked human eye. In saltwater, for instance, they penetrate the shortest distance before appearing 'black'. (On average 30-40 ft)

UV, ultraviolet, from the other end of the spectrum, penetrates the deepest.(Over 70 ft usually)

This, and the fact we don't usually encounter purple lights, suggests that UV or purple/blue/green light would be more effective as they penetrate further and are less seldom encountered by most folks. (At least outside of the local bar/cathouse areas ;)

And to add to earlier observations, if signaling at night, any light swung in a circle is considered an SOS by most aviators.

Just my $0.02

[okieman]

 the navy uses green ones. or used to when I was in. they put them in their float coats ,which is a self inflating life jacket. along with a whistle, a die marker that dies the water many different colors, a water activated co2 bladder, and high power strobe light. all designed to help you be found it you fall overboard day or night!! I used to put them together for my work center, and I wish I had one now for fishing trips!!

oh and the swing in a circle method is also accepted military procedure

[Honkytowner]

A good signalling technique, but use a green lightstick for higher visibiity. The human eye is more sensitive to green than any other colour.

[jlking3]

unless you're colorblind. :) High contrast is what you really need ... so you want a yellow-white to blue-white. Think of the white scale on your computer monitor. blue-white seems brighter than yellow-white. Because yellow light is a longer wavelength than blue, it would carry better. A pure red light preserves your night vision, but may be harder for others to see. And the purpose of this is to get yourself noticed and rescued, from what I can read.

[curlydude93]

I believe that red is more sensitive.

[(seabear)]

red light doesnt travel as far

[wolfy_9005]

I never thought of the idea of spinning it. If your survival kit is as big as im thinking, you should add 2 sticks, you never know when you might need th other(sometimes they might break, and the spare is sort of an insurance against that)