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Triboluminescence and Thinking PuttyThe DiscoveryWhile developing Glow in the Dark Thinking Putty, I started to work evenings with the lights dimmed to better observe the glow of the putty. One night, I tore off a piece of Amber Thinking Putty and a subtle flash caught my attention.I ignored it as a trick of the light and continued working. Twenty minutes went by when I tore off another piece and saw the flash again. It occurred to me...Glow in the Dark Thinking Putty is triboluminescent!! As I emerged from the lab proclaiming my discovery, Elizabeth looked at me like I had been taking "crazy" pills (which isn't at all unusual)! "What is triboluminesce?" she asked, looking unimpressed. The DetailsTriboluminescence is the emission of light from rubbing, mechanical action, and fracture.Many people are familiar with the triboluminescence that comes from chewing WintOGreen Lifesaver candies. In the dark, you can see all sorts of cool sparks in your friend's mouth when they chew up the candy. Throughout history, philosophers, scientists, and experimenters have known that, in darkness, certain types of crystals glow or flash when crushed. Until very recently, the phenomenon was not understood. Even today we have a limited understanding of triboluminescence and much remains to be discovered. The Method
The PhysicsTo understand what makes the spark appear you'll need to understand a little bit about electrons.Luminescence (the emission of light) usually occurs if you supply a lot of energy to atoms: by heating them in a flame (like colored fireworks), or passing electricity through them (like in a neon sign). Each atom emits light of a unique color. If that color is examined in a prism to determine the individual colors that comprise it, you'll find it is composed of narrow, specific colors (spectral lines). At the beginning of the 20th century, Niels Bohr explained that these narrow color lines exist because the electrons inside atoms can only exist at certain, distinct energy levels. Think about how on a staircase you can't stand between the steps! When electrons are transported up the energy stairs by heat or electricity, they are also able to go back down the stairs. As they move down the steps, they give up energy which is released as light. The color of that light is determined by the size of the step (each step inside an atom has a unique "height"). The MysteryIf you examine the amount of energy you use to tear the Thinking Putty, you'd notice that it isn't enough to make electrons move up and down steps.It took scientists a while to figure out the special trick that makes triboluminescent materials really glow. When the putty is torn, electrons get moved around such that there is an imbalance on either side of the tear. This causes an electrical current (electrons) pass through the air which excites nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere (over 70% of our atmosphere is nitrogen gas). It appears that triboluminescence is like lightning or a tiny electric spark! However, scientists soon learned that this was only half the story. Most of the light emitted by nitrogen is ultraviolet -- too high an energy for our eyes to detect. Only a tiny, tiny fraction is in the visible region. But, when you tear the Thinking Putty, the spark seems pretty bright. Also, the spark is a different color depending on which Glow in the Dark Thinking Putty you are using. If you were seeing the light emitted by nitrogen the spark should be the same color every time. What's going on? As you may have guessed, Glow in the Dark Thinking Putty is not only phosphorescent (it emits light after being exposed to a light source) and triboluminescent (causing an electrical imbalance between pieces to create tiny, mostly invisible, lightning bolts), it is also fluorescent! Glow in the Dark Thinking Putty glows briefly, and brightly, in response to the ultraviolet light emitted by the nitrogen gas. It's quite a convoluted multi-step process but thankfully, the laws of nature just plain work! We don't have to put in any effort to enjoy them. The ConclusionSo, go get your Glow in the Dark Thinking Putty. Hole yourself up in a dark closet and tear it to your heart's content. Enjoy all the tiny sparks and flashes and have fun!The UpdateInventor, tinkerer, and amateur scientist extraordinaire Wayne Schmidt wrote to me regarding his technique for capturing triboluminesence on camera. The results weren't beautiful but they were definitive. Wayne writes, "While I was successful in capturing an image of your Amber Thinking Putty's triboluminescence...the flash, while obvious to the human eye, is much dimmer than that produced by cracking a wintergreen lifesaver." As Wayne indicates, you can definitely see the glow compared to the background but it doesn't look like much. This image was taken using a Canon 20D at ISO 3200. The contrast was then pushed to +200%. While a disposable camera's film sensitivity is around ISO 800, to photograph this image properly would require film that is 16 times more sensitive to light. |
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