Tonight I was opening a sealed envolope in dim light. When opening the envelope I noticed blueish flashes of light where the adhesive was pulling apart. Subconciously I probably was looking out for that, as I already had noticed the phemenomen some years ago.
Googling told me that this effect in called Triboluminescence , which means 'light from rubbing'. Apparently this is one of the messier phemenomens. At least three different mechanisms were suggested. Breaking of polymers, squashing of crystals and surface excitations. During my study of physics I never came accross it. The closest thing was the piezoelectric effect, which has a lot of technical applications.
If I don't forget about it, I'll get me some sugar cubes and crush them in the dark.
PS: Is there a something like a TinyMCE for use.perl ?
Typing all that markup is tiring.
triboluminescence
rjbs on 2007-02-15T23:21:03
I only read about triboluminescence in some sort of "so you're going to be a daddy" book. It said, "If you seen green sparks shooting out of your baby's diaper, it's probably nothing to worry about."
Yeah. I'm sure I'll remain calm.
Emitting X-rays
Bernhard on 2008-10-23T09:15:34
There is a report, that even X-rays are emitted by
unsticking adhesives:
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081022/full/news.2008.1185.html.
