Triboluminescence: Wintergreen Lifesavers Producing Sparks of Light While Chewing

Have you ever wondered at how LifeSavers (all varieties in fact, but most notably the Wintergreen flavor) are able to flash with sparks of light while you chew them to bits inside of your mouth. This is an effect which has been noted by many people who enjoy the popular candy, but is not well understand by many. In this article, the method by which Wintergreen LifeSavers produce sparks and flashes of light inside of the mouth will be detailed along with backstory and a small history of the phenomenon itself.

In order to create light, the lifesavers candies need to produce electricity in some manner. This is accomplished by the candy by means of creating electrical potential between the sugar crystals. By crunching, biting and squishing the candies, and thus the sugar crystals, the opposing electrical charges inside of the crystilline structures align themselves in order to create electrical potentional. As this voltage difference builds, small discharges are notable to be similar in effect as micro-lightning. By the simple act of the electrical discharge, ultraviolet radiation is released, this being a well known side-effect of overvoltage discharge.

This is where most Lifesavers candies end in their ability to produce sparks and flashes. However the wintergreen flavor contains a fluorescent flavoring chemical.

Fluorescence is the ability of a chemical substance to absorb electrical energy, and excite its particles enough so that they give off photons which in turn produce visible light. This is the manner of which fluorescent tubes produce lighting in supermarkets workplaces and homes, and also the method of neon tubes to produce the colorful displays we enjoy at our local restaurant, bar or casino.

When the electrical discharge builds up and spark across the crystilline structure of the sugar molecules, the fluorescent chemical flavoring of the wintergreen Lifesavers (methyl salicylate) becomes excited by the ultraviolet radiation provided by the electrical discharge. It then releases photons visible to humans as visible light, sparks, and flashes of light inside of the mouth of the person chewing the lifesaver in a dimly lit room.