| Author: | Stefano |
|---|---|
| category: | Chemistry, Physics |
A few days ago I received a letter. While opening it, I was able to spot a considerably bright blue luminescence coming from the line where the glue separated. I heard many times about this phenomenon, but never able to witness it. It is called triboluminescence, and arises by charge separation created by the mechanical stress. When charges recombine, light emission occurs, normally a very beautiful electric blue.
Apparently, you can generate this effect in many ways. The rubber-like glue you can find in some envelopes is one possibility, but many minerals also exhibit the same phenomenon, some candies and plain sugar.
Of course, this led me to crush sugar with a glass in a dark room. Although I believe I was able to spot something, I cannot really say for sure. The room was not 100% dark, and some spurious light could arise from reflections on the glass, tricking me.
Despite this part of the experiment being not conclusive, I can confirm the second part: crushing sugar in a dark kitchen means sugar dust everywhere.