The property that some materials become luminous upon being scratched, crushed, or rubbed. When the charges get back together, the air is ionized, producing a flash of light. Material scientists believe the light results from a recombination of electrical charges that become separated when crystals are fractured. Why do crystals light up when rubbed together? The Wint-o-Green Mints are addicting, but in a good way. They are Not overpowering like the Pep-o-Mints are. Are wintergreen LifeSavers addiction?Īre wintergreen LifeSavers addictive? These LifeSavers Mints Wint-o-Green (green & white bag) are the mild flavored mints. It can cause problems from fever to vomiting to respiratory melt-down and, according to doses of less than a teaspoon have been toxic in small children. If you can’t find this flavor of Lifesavers, you can use sugar with wintergreen oil or clove oil.īefore you go on that all Wint-O-Green Lifesaver diet, you should know that methyl salicylate has a dirty little secret:it’s toxic. The methyl salicylate in the wintergreen oil is fluorescent and converts the ultraviolet light into blue light.

You get triboluminescence whenever you smash sugar, but there usually isn’t enough light for you to see it. Usually, a person looks in a mirror or peers into a partner’s mouth while crunching the candy to see the resulting blue sparks. The idea is to break the hard, donut-shaped candy in the dark.

For several decades people have been playing in the dark with triboluminescence using wintergreen-flavored Lifesavers candy.

Lifesaver spark in the dark