Making Cold Light From Crystals

Promo code: ACTIONLAB

In this video I show you how to make triboluminescence with quartz crystals.

[Kaya]

Many years ago (1981), I was winter camping in the Welsh mountains. I'd brought along some Kendal Mint Cake. This is mostly sugar. I thought I was hallucinating when I saw light each time I broke a piece off. The air temperature was around -5 c. This video explains what I was seeing. Thank you.

[jgriffin]

This is awesome, I was shown this light source some years ago by a rock collector who just sawed a round quartz rock in half on a wet saw. Rubbing the edge against the flat semi polished surface creates light. I've shown my wife and kids but I'm the only one that's still amazed by this....I like to geek out on stuff like this

[christianmckee]

You should have had the lights off when you crushed the quartz in the hydraulic press. That would have been so cool!

Great video as always :D

[AJHyland]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention sugar crystals. I remember as a soldier getting sugar in plastic single serve bags for tea or coffee. If you rub the bag between thumb and forefinger in the dark, you can see the same phenomenon.

[sirbooner]

As a rockhound, I appreciate this knowledge. I knew quartz was piezoelectric, but didn't know a great way to exemplify it.

[InteleVision-Vic]

You should have turned the lights off when you crushed it. Missed opportunity!

[sevegarza]

Love the video, but it’s a crime against science that you didn’t film the crushing of the crystal in a dark room.

[JaceDanielFilms]

Someday: "Hey everyone, today I'm going to be opening an inter-dimensional rift into a parallel alien world. That's right, I'm going to see if I can actually trigger an invasion of multidimensional monsters into our reality. First we'll need to synthesize element 115 using this particle accelerator I bought on ebay. Next I'll be using this homemade time-sword to slice through the seams of reality."

[GRKTheGreat]

i remember doing this when i was a kid, grabbed 2 small rocks and did this and it was so cool. Glad to know what it was now.

[getsideways]

I like it how the subtitles call it "tribal luminescence" when you are talking about buffalo skin rattles, but quickly changes to proper triboluminescence after you are done with the rattles :)

[metameme_yt]

Would have been cool to use the hydraulic press in the dark. Imagine that it would be quite a light show.

[louwclaassens]

I just ran outside to grab two pieces of rose quartz from a bag full I had outside. Woohoo! It worked! Wow!

[youandiryan]

Man I love this channel and all the experiments you do. I am in my 30s and I am still soaking up all the information I can learn. I have a love for aviation, cars, the universe, and cool science like this

[Janelle-hsxn]

I discovered this years ago after I was told Australian Aboriginal shamans used clear quartz as a torch - I couldn't figure how this would work. When I rubbed two together I found the sparks were more internal in the crystal - however my crystals were smaller in diameter than those you have used. I wondered if a machine rubbed two together at a constant rate that perhaps they would "turn on" - light up like a bulb and stay alight?

[ArikaStack]

I used to work at a shop that made quartz rings that would act as fill material in a critical step when making semiconductors. They were around 12" in diameter and could cost as much as 5000 a part. They were also super hard, but brittle, and were this special quartz alloy of sorts. Machining them with diamond tooling was hard to do correctly. Whenever we'd scrap one we'd have to break it by throwing it into a bin. It was cool seeing them spark when they broke.

[ooltimu]

I finally found out why envelopes emit blue glow when I open the sticky part. Thanks for this!

[dogsarebest]

You don't need to break them. They make light and elecitricty without them breaking, that's how piezoelectric ignitors (in cigarette lighters, bbq pit starters, etc) ignitors work, it hits them with a spring loaded hammer, but not hard enough to shatter them. There is a metal foil attached top and bottom, going to wires, where you want the electricity to go. They can make tens of thousands of volts!

Edit: The BBQ ignitors are real useful tools! On old style christmas lights (pre-led), zap the prongs, and it makes them work again! Christmas lights have a little fuse at the bottom, to bypass a burned out bulb, but sometimes there isn't enough voltage to cause the breakdown. Zapping a few times with a piezo ignitor, with thousands of volts, is enough to blow holes through the material, so when you plug it back into mains, it can then work properly! A few other uses too!

[QuintonMurdock]

I live in the region where The Ute used to live and there are some areas with large amounts of perfectly sized quartz easily accessible on or near the surface so I definitly could understand them making stuff with them.

[raymondcarter]

This actually confirms a hypothesis. The polarity is something I never considered but makes perfect sense if you factor in resonance frequencies.

[leogreaves]

@The Action Lab, you should do one about sonoluminescence, the phenomenon where bubbles popping somehow make a flash of light.