WEBVTT - The Artifact: The Sugar Light

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<v Speaker 1>Hey everybody, I am here with the scheduling note. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode would normally be a full length core episode of

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<v Speaker 1>the show, but due to a holiday, we are switching

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<v Speaker 1>up the order this week, so there's going to be

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<v Speaker 1>a short Artifact episode today and then full length episodes

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<v Speaker 1>will air on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. And

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<v Speaker 1>now onto the episode. Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 1>a production of My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is

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<v Speaker 1>Joe McCormick, and this is the Artifact, a short form

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<v Speaker 1>series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>and moments in time. In the year six the English

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<v Speaker 1>philosopher Sir Francis Bacon published a book called Novum Organum,

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<v Speaker 1>in which he described a program for investigating the world

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<v Speaker 1>through empiricism and organized inductive reasoning. As an example of

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<v Speaker 1>how to employ his new method, Bacon discusses at length

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<v Speaker 1>the physical phenomenon of heat, cataloging examples of heat in nature,

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<v Speaker 1>but also what he calls quote proximate instances wanting the

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<v Speaker 1>nature of heat. In other words, situations where other phenomena

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<v Speaker 1>observed alongside heat in nature are witnessed but without the heat.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, the moon and the stars shine with light

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<v Speaker 1>that's bright like sunlight, but not hot like sunlight, and

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<v Speaker 1>so forth. But here in one paragraph Bacon starts to

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<v Speaker 1>list more anomalous sources of cold light. He mentions a

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<v Speaker 1>kind of light quote which in some well authenticated and

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<v Speaker 1>serious histories is said to have appeared around the head

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<v Speaker 1>and hair of boys and virgins, and instead of burning

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<v Speaker 1>their hair, merely to have played about it. He also

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<v Speaker 1>explains with great confidence that in times of darkness or

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<v Speaker 1>damp weather, a sweaty horse will emit flashes of light.

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<v Speaker 1>He writes, quote, in like manner, sea and salt water

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<v Speaker 1>is sometimes found to shine at night when struck violently

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<v Speaker 1>by the ore. The foam of the sea, when agitated

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<v Speaker 1>by tempests, also sparkles at night, and the Spaniards called

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<v Speaker 1>this appearance the sea's lungs. While I don't know what

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<v Speaker 1>to make of the claim that sometimes sweaty horses glow,

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<v Speaker 1>or that the ocean will shine with the slap of

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<v Speaker 1>an oar, there is one claim in this passage that

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<v Speaker 1>sounds just as weird as the rest, and yet it

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<v Speaker 1>is entirely true and exhaustively verified. Bacon writes, quote, it

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<v Speaker 1>is well known that all sugar, whether candied or plain,

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<v Speaker 1>if it be hard, will sparkle when broken or scraped

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<v Speaker 1>in the dark. The fact that sugar glows when scraped

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<v Speaker 1>or crushed is now a well documented phenomenon. You might

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<v Speaker 1>have even seen it yourself by smashing wintow green life

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<v Speaker 1>savers with a hammer or throwing a bunch of sugar

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<v Speaker 1>cubes in a blender. When you smash the sugar, it

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<v Speaker 1>releases pops of ghostly light, often blue in color. This

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<v Speaker 1>phenomenon is an example of what's called tribo luminescence, a

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<v Speaker 1>light that is emitted when certain substances are mechanically stimulated by,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, rubbing, crushing, scraping, or tearing apart. Many of

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<v Speaker 1>these substances are crystalline in nature, Like sugar, Quartz crystals

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<v Speaker 1>often begin to glow when rubbed together rapidly in a

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<v Speaker 1>darkened room. Several studies on tribo luminescence in quartz mention

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<v Speaker 1>a type of artifact used by some of the Ute

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<v Speaker 1>people of Colorado, which was a type of rattle made

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<v Speaker 1>from translucent buffalo rawhide filled with quartz pebbles, which would

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<v Speaker 1>allegedly glow with tribo luminescence when shaken at night, as

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<v Speaker 1>the pebbles inside smashed against one another. But there are

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<v Speaker 1>other stranger sources of tribo luminescence. You can sometimes see

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<v Speaker 1>a rolling line of blue sparks by peeling adhesive tape

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<v Speaker 1>of a roll or peeling an adhesive bandage envelope apart

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<v Speaker 1>in very low light. Despite the fact that tribal luminescence

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<v Speaker 1>has been observed for hundreds or even thousands of years,

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<v Speaker 1>the physical mechanisms leading to the emission of light are

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<v Speaker 1>still not fully understood, and there's no universal theory that

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<v Speaker 1>explains all instances, but we know some things. Tribal luminescence

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<v Speaker 1>seems to be especially common in crystals with an asymmetric structure.

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<v Speaker 1>A common explanation given is that when the crystals are fractured,

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<v Speaker 1>many electrons are actually ripped away from their atomic nuclei,

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<v Speaker 1>generating an electrical field. The electric charge difference is neutralized

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<v Speaker 1>when these free electrons eventually rejoin with atoms across the

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<v Speaker 1>fracture gap, leading to the emission of light. In some cases,

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<v Speaker 1>tribal luminescence seems to depend on the gases surrounding the material.

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<v Speaker 1>The familiar blue glow of crushed sugar can be turned

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<v Speaker 1>red if you do the crushing in a sealed container

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<v Speaker 1>filled with neon gass, indicating that the blue light in

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<v Speaker 1>this case has to do with the emission spectra of

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<v Speaker 1>the nitrogen that makes up most of our air. So

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<v Speaker 1>when sugar glows blue, the blue light is probably caused

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<v Speaker 1>when nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere are excited by electrical

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<v Speaker 1>discharge from the cracking sugar crystals. As the nitrogen atoms

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<v Speaker 1>fall back down to their ground state, they emit photons

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<v Speaker 1>at frequencies that include some visible blue light, almost like

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<v Speaker 1>lightning in the cracks of the candy. And before I finish,

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<v Speaker 1>I want to say, if anyone has any insight on

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<v Speaker 1>the glowing sweaty horse, you have our email address. Tune

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<v Speaker 1>into new editions of the artifact every Wednesday, hosted either

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<v Speaker 1>by Robert or myself. As always, you can email us

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<v Speaker 1>at contact at Stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind and is a production of

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<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit

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<v Speaker 1>the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.