There are many ways to create triboluminescence, but we will focus on one of the easier and more productive and fun ways. This is the same thing that happens when you see lightning, so triboluminescence is basically extremely small lightning. The light we see is the energy from the friction occurring on the crystal being absorbed by the electrons in the atoms, which is then put off as light. Triboluminescence occurs whenever asymmetrical bonds in a crystal are scratched or rubbed. The word Triboluminescence comes from the Greek word tribein, which means to rub, and the Latin word lumen, which means light. Better hustle on down to the store toot sweet.Below is a bit of history scraped from a few sites. We can thus envision that when the next energy crunch comes, an adequate supply of Life Savers will be as important to survival as MasterCard is today. For instance, I have here an unpublished paper by researcher Patricia Nakache that is somewhat grandly entitled, “The Life Saver: A New Energy Source?” It contains the fascinating news that if you connect a Life Saver to a neon tube with wires and bash it (the Life Saver) with a hammer, the neon tube will flash. Some of these are more imaginative than others. The effect was first described in 17th-century Italy, and since then it’s been discussed in numerous papers and articles. I should point out that even without the wintergreen flavoring, virtually all crystal sugar candy, including peppermint Life Savers, will emit some visible light when crushed, although it’s usually pretty faint. Clearly the planners in the Pentagon weren’t the first to be obsessed with high-tech gimcracks. This then emits the fairly bright blue light you see. Step Three: The UV radiation is absorbed by the wintergreen flavoring, methyl salicylate. When the free electrons strike the nitrogen molecules, they cause the latter to emit invisible ultraviolet radiation, along with a faint visible glow. Step Two: Meanwhile, as the sugar crystals disintegrate, nitrogen molecules from the air attach themselves to the fractured surfaces. In what amounts to a subatomic game of musical chairs, the free electrons dash around madly trying to find a new home. As a result, the atoms in which the electrons were formerly embedded become positively charged. Step One: When you shatter the sugar crystals with your teeth, electrons (which are negatively charged) break free. Wintergreen sparking, it’s believed, is actually a three-step process. (Another example of TL is the spark you get when you tear the piece of tape off the end of a roll of photographic film.) Most students of the modern Life Saver classify sparking as a type of triboluminescence, which occurs when something is crushed or torn, the something in this case being the hard crystalline sugar that Life Savers contain. However, theoretical considerations lead us to believe that even under the most favorable conditions the sparks from the peppermints would not be very bright. Our failure in the latter department may perhaps be attributed to the fact that the peppermint Life Savers we had on hand were unbelievably ancient, and had consequently absorbed considerable moisture, which is said to inhibit sparking. Having completed our labors, we have arrived at the following conclusions: (1) wintergreen Life Savers will indeed produce spectacular if somewhat pint-sized clouds of blue flame when mashed vigorously between the molars. Accordingly, I have conducted a rigorous program of experiments, aided by the Straight Dope Kamikaze Research (“we laugh at death”) & Display Advertising Battalion, which will do anything if it will get them out of actually having to work for an hour. It is all very well for a layman to take her brother’s word on things like this, Dona, but professionals such as myself insist on checking out the situation firsthand.
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