Life Saver flash
Chew a wintergreen Life Saver candy with your mouth open while
in a dark room or closet. Use a mirror to watch what happens.
Or watch while a friend chews. Stand the piece of candy up
between the back teeth. When the candy is crushed you see a
flash of green light. The molecules within the candy are
arranged in millions of crystals. When the crystal patterns are
broken apart some energy is released in the form of light.
Some of that light is ultraviolet which is invisible. The
wintergreen oil changes the ultraviolet into the green light
you see. A pair of pliers crushing the candy will also cause a
flash. In this case you may want to first spread a sheet of
newspaper to catch the many pieces that result.
Here's a description of how the light is produced. When the
candy is crushed electrons are torn from their normal positions
within the crystals of sugar. Nitrogen atoms in the air are
attracted by the vacancies left by the dislodged electrons.
The nitrogen atoms become attached. The wandering electrons
are attracted to their former positions and slam into the
nitrogen atoms. The collision produces ultraviolet light. The
UV light is changed to visible light when it hits the
wintergreen oil[methyl salicylate]. The name given to the process of
producing light from breaking or tearing is triboluminescence.
According to the book 'The Young Man's Book of Amusement'
published in 1851, striking a 1 pound piece of loaf sugar in the
dark produces a light blue flash of light.