Today I Learned: in the dark, see how rock candy glows.
Today I Learned: in the dark, see how rock candy glows.
Shattered to pieces, is its shining moment

try to turn off the lights and curtains, put a rock candy in the dark room, and break it with a hammer. You will see the broken sugar glowing blue and purple in an instant. If you find it troublesome, you should be able to see it by grinning your teeth in the mirror and crushing rock candy. Some people even hit rock candy with a pistol in the dark and took pictures with the only glimmer of light. This luminous phenomenon is called friction fluorescence (Triboluminescence) .

many materials have friction fluorescence phenomenon, but the causes are different. The friction fluorescence phenomenon of rock sugar is due to the asymmetry of its crystal. When such crystals are destroyed, there will be no natural uniform ideal broken surface. When the crystal face is broken, there are more broken chemical bonds on the rugged interface than on the ideal surface, and it is easier to have positive and negative polarity. The polar crystal layer is exposed to the surface and needs to return to electrical neutrality, so some of the energy used to break the crystal accumulates into potential energy. Of course, this state will not last long. Opposite charges are quickly attracted together and the energy is released. Like lightning, the potential released excites nitrogen in the air and emits the blue-purple light you see.

but even this kind of experiment, which can be done at home, may still contain puzzles that have not been solved by cutting-edge physicists. This seemingly common phenomenon has not been thoroughly studied. The above theory can explain why asymmetrical crystals such as rock sugar produce frictional fluorescence, but some crystals without asymmetry also produce frictional fluorescence, which is known to have at least 6 or 7 different causes. The research on this phenomenon began as early as a hundred years ago, and it has not been over yet.

the most dazzling moment

since the moment

all the pieces have been broken

can only be thrown into mung bean soup

so what if ╮ (╯▽╰) ╭

this article is reproduced from the official account "TodayILearned Comics"

if you like this series and want to know more about cold knowledge, please identify the figure below and follow the author ↓

cool scientific PS: now is the time to test your eyesight. This is a motion picture I took from a video of smashing rock candy. Do you see its shimmer? (producer: Hiroto Ashikaga)

the most dazzling moment

since the moment

all the pieces have been broken

can only be thrown into mung bean soup

so what if ╮ (╯▽╰) ╭

this article is reproduced from the official account "TodayILearned Comics"

if you like this series and want to know more about cold knowledge, please identify the figure below and follow the author ↓

cool scientific PS: now is the time to test your eyesight. This is a motion picture I took from a video of smashing rock candy. Do you see its shimmer? (producer: Hiroto Ashikaga)

all the pieces have been broken

can only be thrown into mung bean soup

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so what if ╮ (╯▽╰) ╭

this article is reproduced from the official account "TodayILearned Comics"

if you like this series and want to know more about cold knowledge, please identify the figure below and follow the author ↓

cool scientific PS: now is the time to test your eyesight. This is a motion picture I took from a video of smashing rock candy. Do you see its shimmer? (producer: Hiroto Ashikaga)