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From Lifesaver Sparks to Life-saving Tech: The Science of Triboluminescence

SciShow - 2019-08-08

You might know that if you chomp on a Wint-O-Green Lifesaver in a dark room, you can see little blue flashes of light in your mouth. What you might not know is that this is an example of triboluminescence: a fascinating, somewhat mysterious, and potentially lifesaving scientific phenomenon!

Hosted by: Michael Aranda

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Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451929418300238
https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/triboluminescence-materials-properties-and-applications
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136970211170147X
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question505.htm
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-99037-8_6
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-38842-7_2
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.440151
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/j150653a007?journalCode=jpchax
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.6b12707?journalCode=aamick
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022231312001342
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07378
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1143/JJAP.46.2385/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11249-018-1120-0
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/cc/c1cc11411e#!divAbstract
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/francis-bacon/#SciMetNovOrgTheInd

Abyssal Falcon - 2019-08-08

I have never seen nor heard of that and I need some mints NOW

Caoimhin Tew - 2019-08-09

Bash a quartz crystal with another hard object in a dark room and it'll glow internally. The same property may be responsible for piezoelectricity?

Rat Dog - 2019-08-10

Jane Doe I hope you avoid opening your mouth while you’re outside.

Stephen Harris - 2019-08-10

You can also do this with duct tape. Take a piece and fold the sticky sides together leaving enough separated to pull. Turn off the lights and watch in the mirror as you pull as quickly as you can

Just an Average Dragon - 2019-08-11

@Joseph Burchanowski not to mention the radium present in their bones

Jr Benivamondez - 2021-02-23

@Mystee Pulcine 69

Brad Lemmond - 2019-08-09

"His sugar wasn't special" sounds like an insult from an old southern lady.

GoinGreninja - 2019-08-10

Yeah...it does.

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-10

Brilliant!

GWAR scout - 2019-08-10

" His sugar ain't brown enough, if y'all catch my meaning" - Aunt Jemima.

FlyingDwarfman - 2019-08-14

Or a phrase of endearing simplicity from one: "His sugar wasn't special, but he was a sweet man."

John Williams - 2019-08-08

I had no idea this existed.

DemiTrusdale3 - 2019-08-08

John Williams I knew this existed, I learned it from a tv show, but so few people talked about it, I thought I was going crazy 😞

Salt Mage - 2019-08-09

Ive known about since i did a middle school experiment about it. Literally everyone who i tell about this denys it happens.

Fred Gotpub - 2019-08-09

And that it existed right under my nose !

GWAR scout - 2019-08-09

Seems like static electricity.

Funky Sagan Cat - 2019-11-17

I learned it for the first time in the 3rd volume of Halliday and Resnick's fundamentals of physics, but it wasn't clear there how commom the phenomenon was so I thought I would have to buy mints in the US to see it

speedy01247 - 2019-08-08

someone get the slow mo guys on this, I want to see this at like 10000 frames per second.

Michael Gibb - 2019-08-09

Destin Sandlin has already done it on his second Smarter Every Day channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW8q_JfmcbU

Kenji Shinomori - 2019-08-09

@Michael Gibb Its true, and its a wonderful and awesome video!

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-10

10,000 frames/sec is fast, but that's just me, i'm used to 29.94fps.

Jace Cavacini - 2019-08-12

Thanks for posting the link to the high speed photography of this, @Michael Gibb.

Barbara Cunningham - 2019-08-13

speedy01247 Thanks!

Karabetter - 2019-08-08

Ahhh yes, science growing up ... I read about this effect in my early teens and had to try it. Broke the lifesaver into pieces, took it to basement, placed on concrete floor and used a hammer on it in pitch darkness. WoW that was cool! Told my younger cousin about it. He had a hard time hitting it in the dark. So unbeknownst to me, he held a piece in his fingers ... No flash, just him screaming as he broke his thumb & finger !! To this day when I meet him, I offer him a life-saver. ;)

Alan Larkin - 2019-08-09

Love it

Karabetter - 2019-08-09

Just to be clear here ... I was like 13-14 and he was just one grade in school below me. So at the time I didn't think it was like giving a hammer to a 4 year old. lol!

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-10

If you did that now he'd be wearing a seatbelt while smashing his fingers.

Joshua Pearce - 2019-08-12

The scientific method is good, but safety is something else.

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-12

Science - safety = comedy + trauma

Rep-tic-attac - 2019-08-09

"How did you burn your house down?"

"Mints."

SankarPrime - 2019-08-09

Humans: we want to generate power from glowing crystals!
Protoss: you must construct additional pylons!

Katerina Kireyeva - 2019-08-09

Pylon construction in progress. Estimated time 2456 years, 176 days and 5 hours remaining.

TheFirstTime - 2019-08-10

Not enough minerals

Adam Arens - 2019-08-10

Don’t forget some of that Vespene gas !

Pepre - 2019-08-11

mineral field depleted

Abbieq11 - 2019-08-11

Oh my gosh yes.

Thomas Slone - 2019-08-08

when i was very young, i stuck two pieces of scotch tape sticky side together and discovered in the dark it emitted a bluish light when pulled apart, for a decade and a half i wondered what actually generated the light

Thomas Slone - 2019-08-27

just redid the experiment with three different brands of invisable tape, also did a some homework and i suspect the reason i cant replicate it is because the formula of the adhesive has chanced because cheaper alternatives were found, no clue what the original formula was but i originaly discovered the effect around 1998 to 2000 so good chance no tapes use the same exact formula, it was 3m scotch tape and i think it wasnt sticky side to sticky side but actully from just pulling tape off the role, all i remember is once i noticed the effect i did it like a dozen times wishing i could figure out how scotch tape could make light, i believe i chocked it up to the flashes you can see from static discharge in the dark

Funky Sagan Cat - 2019-11-17

https://youtu.be/54R6q2_-4Yo

Ace Lightning - 2019-08-08

It sounds as if triboluminescence is related in some way to piezoelectricity. And my gas stove uses piezoelectricity to ignite the burners.

Ace Lightning - 2019-08-11

Plain butter on a toasted bagel is fine with me, or sometimes some jam. But I also sometimes serve a hamburger on a toasted bagel instead of a plain roll - a poppy seed bagel is especially good for that.

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-11

@Ace Lightning - burger! I didn't think of thar, i'm in!

Ace Lightning - 2019-08-11

Any time you want a particular kind of sandwich to be more substantial, put it on a bagel instead of plain toast or a roll. About the only thing you can't do this with is grillled cheese :-)

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-11

@Ace Lightning - makes sense now that i think about it!

LeatherNeck 1833 - 2019-08-16

@Ace Lightning Oh but you can my friend - - - by adding sliced ham or turkey. Sure, it's not pure grilled cheese, but it keeps the cheese from dripping through the hole and grilled ham & cheese is better IMHO.

Johanna Verplank - 2019-08-09

No kidding, I was eating a Wint O Green Life Saver when I saw this video in my feed. What a coincidence! Yes, I did try it BTW, and it worked! Science is awesome 😃

Mike Kazz - 2019-08-08

I remember getting a C for this experiment in elementary school, the problem was that the internet wasn't as informational as it is now, all I had was a hammer with tin foil on the head, a pie tin, and a mint saver, and only some information on why it sparked because we were afraid to get a virus on the computer.

Benson - 2019-08-09

Dustin from Smarter Everyday has an excellent video on this. He films it with a Phantom slow-motion camera.

Benson - 2019-08-09

It's also Smarter Every Day. I was using an old cell phone with a crappy autocorrect feature.

Heide Knight - 2019-08-10

@Benson everyone hates autocorrect. As far as I have seen anyway.

crilleedara - 2019-08-08

Very interesting, I had never even heard of triboluminescence!! Great vid as always, keep up the good work!!

Lily Wang - 2019-08-08

"Knowledge is power." -Francis Bacon (France is bacon?)

Karabetter - 2019-08-09

France actually did set some major high temperature records this summer. ;)

nonam namrson - 2019-08-09

"Power is power." -Cersei Lanister

D Gray - 2019-08-09

"Fight the power!" -Flat Earth Society

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-10

"Bacon is delicious, Canadian bacon is not bacon" - Robert Pryor

SukoSeiti - 2019-08-08

Eletrons might be exciting nearby gases, generating excited atomic Nitrogen (as in plasma), these gases once relaxed, emit light on their waveform, in case of Nitrogen this light is blue. Cracks in solid might also be generating low pressure locally, which contributes to plasma formation once electrons pass.

No name mage - 2019-08-09

Reminds of the effect of putting two grapes in a microwave next to each other and creating plasma

Random Electronics and Displays - 2019-08-09

It almost sounds like piezoelectric effect generating a plasma.

But I'm no scientist.

Anonymous keys - 2019-08-09

It is

Heide Knight - 2019-08-10

But you are. Because science.

rillloudmother - 2019-08-08

That vest seems a bit much for August 8th...

Lazurkri - 2019-08-09

Yeah I was incredibly distracted a lot of times with the fact he's wearing a vest at the height of Summer

GWAR scout - 2019-08-09

Hey, nothing wrong with blasting your 10k BTU AC on a day like this

D Gray - 2019-08-09

Maybe he's in Antarctica. You shouldn't assume someone's geography.

rillloudmother - 2019-08-09

@D Gray they're in montana n00b

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-10

I would have waited till the 10th

Augustus331 - 2019-08-09

So very interesting! I wish I was born later in time so that I'd see more of the scientific progress. I am now 67. I do hope that the thing I will miss: The climate change catastrophe - will not be mankind's undoing

Limi V - 2019-08-08

Interesting scientific phenomenon. I was very confused about the life savers, because I've never heard of those before and the name does not help. A few words on what those are would've saved me a lot of confusion

nonam namrson - 2019-08-09

That's surprising. So I take it lifesavers are branded differently in your country?

himanbam - 2019-08-09

Lifesavers are a minty hard lolly they have in America.

Limi V - 2019-08-09

@nonam namrson As far as I know, lifesavers are simply not sold here

Heide Knight - 2019-08-10

It likely works with hard candies of any type but the mint they use most is white and glossy. Would a jaw breaker also work?

Bazooka Llama Productions - 2019-08-09

"in messy breakups, one side loses all their stuff to the other." eg, every divorce ever.

Elfos64 - 2019-08-09

Sugar is such an interesting chemical, so much versatility. I've heard of it used to neutralize certain acids, to mess with wet concrete's ability to set properly, and now as a potential light source.

GWAR scout - 2019-08-09

It will eventually power warp drive.

catboy bf - 2019-08-10

I heard it tastes good too

Elfos64 - 2019-08-10

@catboy bf Not by itself, no. It more so makes other things taste better- up to a point. Going beyond that point ruins it.

Lazurkri - 2019-08-09

I love all the science fact and now I know how to have fun with your average mints...

I have a more pressing question, tho; what in the world is with the vest?

Cristopher Gore - 2019-08-10

3:44 “But we don’t need to know exactly how they work to put them to good use”
That’s what we thought of radioactive make-up

ShadeDust - 2019-08-08

I received a letter some months ago, and when I opened it, the glue that keeps the envelope shut shone a blueish light

Nolan Westrich - 2019-08-09

Some band-aid wrappers do that too.

Mort - 2019-08-09

That's anthrax

camramaster - 2019-08-09

I need a high speed camera, 80 lbs of mints, 50lbs of salt, 10 feet of rope, and 100 gallons of distilled water, stat.

LoliiShota - 2019-08-08

I remember in the 5th grade, the school classes went camping. At night the outside was pitch black. They gave us the life savers and you would see everyone's mouth spark. I forgot about this and I will want to buy some more.

retsz - 2019-08-08

Waaah? I've eaten tons of those lifesavers in my life and I never knew that they spark. So, there really is a party in my mouth

Robert Pryor - 2019-08-10

Go to emergency room

Julika7 - 2019-08-09

I've seen glowings when in the dark opening a package of wet paper or moving over some bed sheets. Isn't it the same effect? Tiny electrical charges.

Heide Knight - 2019-08-10

Static electricity?

Gibran Henrique de Souza - 2019-08-09

This remembers me of Halliday book back on graduation time.

Jace Cavacini - 2019-08-12

Those suggested “uses” sound like they have had almost zero thought put into actually executing them...

3a Artistries - 2019-08-09

OMG I use to spark CERT mints when I was a kid! I haven't thought about this in years!

Lexie Payton - 2019-08-08

I never knew this! Now I need to get some of those lifesaver candies!

Jasmine Martinez - 2019-08-09

I noticed something like this when cutting bowden tubing for my printer, interesting.

Micha Grill - 2019-08-09

Thats the most "some sort of" ive ever heard in a scientific definition

Justin Williams - 2019-08-09

"Ex-spearmints" "ex-wintergreen"
Whatever way you want to freshen your breath!

Hector Castillo - 2019-08-09

I remember doing this alot when I was a kid with those mints cuz I thought it looked cool and I'm glad to finally kinda understand the science behind it

Kiki Sparkle - 2019-08-09

Everytime I hear a crystal shines when it’s broken I can’t help thinking about those inspirational quotes lol

KawaiiFaery55555 - 2019-08-10

So we're finally getting back to the Atlanteans-had-glowing-crystals-for-light idea?

ice9 dragon - 2019-08-09

Never heard of this. Hell this could've been released on April fools lol

Tina Corbett - 2019-08-13

Us: "How does this work?"
Science: "Fu** if we know."

Ashy Potatoes - 2019-08-09

I read that as “lightsaber sharts”

Jake Brualdi - 2019-08-10

I'm so glad I'm not crazy. I always saw light released when I unwrapped a bandaid. It's actually real!

Mellie - 2019-08-09

omg! my friends and i used to go in the closet and eat those life savers so we could watch the lights! i hated the taste of them but the lights were soooo cool! and it was hilarious trying to crush them with your mouth open!

Machete Yo *x* - 2019-08-12

I saw this happen as a child when I opened a band aid wrapper in a dark closet.. Nobody belived me..

DO Gaming - 2019-08-18

I've just binge watched like 8 of these videos, and this dude doesn't blink once.

Scott Sheehan - 2019-08-08

What did you do, jump ship? What's with the life preserver?

Orin Sorinson - 2019-08-08

Leave Calvin Klein alone. He's hit his head pretty hard.

GWAR scout - 2019-08-09

It pretty chilly in Montana 'bout now. :)

isaac renaud - 2019-08-12

1:11, and they glow for 3 to 5 minutes

0125AR - 2019-08-09

Ive seen this with breathe right nose strips when you open the packets peel one slowly and have a look

sri iyer - 2019-08-09

the part about it possibly being used to detect weakening structures is a very cool idea

Nick Vinsable - 2019-08-11

Yup, my [Magic] research has come in handy. Huh?