Wait about 15-20 minutes in the darkened room until you can see your teeth in the mirror. Make certain your eyes have adjusted to the dark environment. With your lips open so that you can see your teeth, chew a single lifesaver candy while watching your mouth in the mirror. Each piece of candy can produce many flashes of light as it is chewed and crushed. You are generating light energy by triboluminescence because each time you chew the candy your teeth are tearing apart the chemical bonds that where formed when the liquid candy was molded into a solid lifesaver.
Wintergreen contains molecules that exhibit triboluminescnece.
Automotive scientists are studing triboluminescent flashes as a way to sense automobile crashes so that the air bags can be inflated. All rights reserved.