Super Cool Science S#!t #3 - Triboluminescence - Turning Force into Light

thatsweeneyguy (61)in #science • 7 years ago (edited)

Did you know you can produce light using nothing but Duct Tape?

Certain rocks and minerals will give off a faint flash when you smash them, even Life Savers candies will spark when crushed. These are examples of Triboluminescence, "an optical phenomenon in which light is generated through the breaking of chemical bonds in a material when it is pulled apart, ripped, scratched, crushed, or rubbed." [1]

Triboluminescence of Nicotine-L salicylate [1]

Tribo-what?

The term for this phenomenon comes from combining the greek word for "rub", tribein, and the latin word for "light", lumin. There is no heat or chemical reaction involved, it is completely physical, and the phenomenon is a type of Mechanoluminescence. Many natural minerals (around 50% of crystalline minerals [2]) will produce the effect when put under enough force. The light produced is so faint, that darkness, or low light, is required to see it with the naked eye.

There are a couple leading theories as to what exactly causes Triboluminescence, one of them being that when you hit one of these materials, the electrons within the atoms absorb energy from the exerted force. When they return to their normal state, that energy is released, and makes gas molecules in the material to momentarily glow, much like what happens in a lightning storm. This is explained in a bit more detail by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Ute ceremonial rattle
Source

The first peoples credited with the use of Triboluminescence are the Ute tribe of native americans, for which it is believed the state of Utah was named. They would fill buffalo rawhide rattles with quartz crystals. When they shook these rattles during ceremonies at night, the flashes of light given off by the crystals inside were visible through the hide. They were thought to help bring spirits into the realm of the living. Sir Francis Bacon was the first to record his observations, writing in his 1620 publication Novum Organum Scientiarum;

"It is well known that all sugar, whether candied or plain, if it be hard, will sparkle when broken or scraped in the dark."

It's also worthy to note that this may be the same phenomenon that happens when lightning appears in conjunction with earthquakes, sometimes called "Earthquake Light". When tectonic plates rub together, it would make sense to assume they could cause the same effect on a much larger scale if they contained Triboluminescent material.

"Did you say something about Duct Tape?"

I sure did. There are many ways to observe this phenomenon, and some don't require you to find or buy minerals. If you've got Duct Tape and a dark room, you can go see it right now... well... when you finish reading this article, anyway. Just take a length of tape, and fold it in half, or use two pieces, with the sticky sides touching. When you pull the tape apart, you will see a blue line of light where the tape is separating. If you don't have Duct Tape on hand, Youtube user NurdRage does an awesome job of demonstrating it here:

Another way to see these flashes of light is to crush Wint-O-Green Life Savers. Yeah. You can make light with candy, too... In the true spirit of this series, I want to show you the coolest Triboluminescence demonstration I've ever seen. It's a video by Youtube user Smarter Every Day. In it, Destin records himself smashing the candies with a hammer, and even shooting them with a pellet gun. He does so with a high speed camera at tens of thousands of frames per second, and what he captures can only be described as "Super Cool!" As the candy shatters, blue light can be seen at almost every facture. When they shoot it with the pellet gun, the effect looks like lightning shooting through it from the impact site. You can view the entire video below.

Super cool, right?

Triboluminescence is something that has fascinated me for years. I'm glad that I had a chance to read more in-depth on the topic, and include it in this post series. I tried to get my own footage of this effect using Duct Tape, but my camera is terrible in the dark, and it couldn't really pick much up. If you have a good camera, try and get a picture/video of this in action and put it in the comments. You will surely be rewarded for doing so.

Sources:

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