Started an experiment , triboluminescence

[fluidistic]

Started an "experiment", triboluminescence

Since I can't get Wint-O-Green life savers in the country I live in and could not see triboluminescence in adhesive tapes I have at home, I decided to make my own crystals of sugar and when they'll be done I'm going to break them in the dark.
The proceedure to get crystals of sugar is easy (can be found there http://chemistry.about.com/od/growingcrystals/ht/blsugarcrystal.htm). I've done the solution and poored it already into a jar. I just need to wait some days now.
I hope everything goes fine, I can't wait to see the final result (the light!).

 

[collinsmark]

Awesome!

 

[Edgardo]

I observed triboluminescence by using adhesive tape. However, I found that not every tape showed the effect. Even tapes of the same brand showed different behavior (they only differed in size). I also recommend staying in a very dark room for a couple of minutes such that your eyes adapt to the darkness.

Good luck with the sugar experiment!

 

[fluidistic]

I observed triboluminescence by using adhesive tape. However, I found that not every tape showed the effect. Even tapes of the same brand showed different behavior (they only differed in size). I also recommend staying in a very dark room for a couple of minutes such that your eyes adapt to the darkness.

Good luck with the sugar experiment!

Ok good to know. Thanks.
Well so far it's been almost 24 hours I started it and I see no sign of sugar crystal. Now that I think about it, the approximately 1 kg of sugar I used was maybe not enough for my medium sized jar. It was so much sugar that I took too much time pouring it up into the hot water which eventually boiled and made it much harder for me to see whether the sugar I was adding was getting disolved. Anyway if I did not reach the saturation of sugar in water I was close for sure.
I'll wait a few days and might restart it with a smaller jar if I see no improvement.

 

[fluidistic]

Nothing happened yet. I decided to reboil my sample and add more sugar. This time I know for sure I reached the saturation; the water stopped to be transparent. I added about 500 grams of sugar to reach this saturation so I was indeed quite far from it previously.
This time I'm more confident the experiment will work. Yay.

 

[drizzle]

Don't forget to post pics! :)

 

[fluidistic]

I just tested it (less than 1 minute ago). IT WORKS!
Sorry I took some pictures in the beginning of crystallization but they are of very poor quality, I don't feel like uploading them here. I didn't took any other picture after.
For some reason, after pooring the solution water+dissolved sugar into the jar, the sugar would mainly crystalize at the surface which would then stop the evaporation which is needed to get crystallization below the surface. So I had to remove several times the solid sugar surface because it would reform a few hours later. Anyway I didn't get more crystallization below the surface after the first hours. If I had knew this beforehand I'd have waited 1 or 2 days only and then poor the solution outside the jar and then wait for evaporation of the whole remaining liquid.
I waited 5 minutes in a very dark room, took a spoon and crushed the sugar crystals. I saw light instantly and played for like 5 minutes crushing the crystals.
Well that was worth it.