Quartz - does it emit light? How do you explain this?

I couldn't take a photo of what I was seeing through the display on camera no matter how many i took, so i had to video to capture it. Is this just stupid me like dooooh'nt ya know about science?!



I was blanking out the sun with the crystal, then the display on the camera showed some real funky stuff beaming out. I snapped it many times but didn't catch it.

Is this just a simple explanation of UV light travelling through the crystal?
It bends at the top and makes it look like the reflection of a door or cylindrical 3d shape.




[edit on 28-5-2010 by viber8]

[edit on 28-5-2010 by viber8]

The video is not working.

When you hit the "Youtube video" button, only enter this section of the link.

It will say

"V= xxxxxxxx"

Copy the "xxxxxx" part. Nothing else.

It's the video's ID #.

If there is a & sign after that, ignore the & sign and all of that after. The & sign adds on a list of related videos or play lists.

You ONLY need the XXXXXX part.

It is doing the same effect as the sun, but weaker, due to it weakening the suns rays. It's just messing with the light that the sun is already producing.

ah thanks guys, ok so it's just UV light beaming out? did u notice the curve at the top? do you know why i can't take a photo of that?

Yes, quartz can emit light. It's a process called mechanoluminescence; triboluminescence or fractoluminescence to be exact.
Wiki...

Ute indians used to place quartz crystals in to a ceremonial rattle. When shaken at night, it would emit flashes of light.

Fractoluminesence is also what causes wintergreen Lifesavers to spark in your mouth when you bite down on them and, the glue they use on Curad bandaid wrappers to spark when you pulled the two sides apart.


[edit on 5/28/10 by NotTooHappy]

Originally posted by NotTooHappy
Yes, quartz can emit light. It's a process called mechanoluminescence, triboluminescence or fractoluminescence to be exact.
Wiki...

Ute indians used to place quartz crystals in to a ceremonial rattle. When shaken at night, it would emit flashes of light.

Fractoluminesence is also what causes wintergreen Lifesavers to spark in your mouth when you bite down on them and, the glue they use on Curad bandaid wrappers to spark when you pulled the two sides apart.

[edit on 5/28/10 by NotTooHappy]

This is a top quality post here everyone.

Please star it.

This is the exact type of posts I keep coming to ATS every day for.

Because I Love Learning things and ATSers are so dang knowledgeable you know??

Very Impressive. GJ NotTooHappy!

[edit on 28-5-2010 by muzzleflash]

It's just the answer I was looking for!

Crystals have intrigued me lately, thanks for the detail.

My dad taught me you can make quartz stone light up by rubbing them together . I remember thinking it was really cool.
He once found Native American grinding stones made from quartz. So I guess it lit up when they were grinding their corn.
I didn't know about the rattle - that's cool.

Very interesting things crystals are. Currently I work in a lab with a Scintillation crystal (made of sodium and some other stuff-very expensive and very fragile) It can map out a spectrum of radioactive activity of an interacting radioactive object based only on the way the beta and gamma rays interact with the matrix of the crystal. It is really cool. I imagine that anything in a crystalline matrix form (such as quartz) will display a variety of interesting features when exposed to activity on the EM spectrum.

crystals are really cool, they are stable, organized forms of a material, and thus have very interesting properties.

After reading this thread I decided to test this theory and what do you know, rubbing two crystals together makes some pretty obvious sparks. just recorded this on a digital camera this morning. You can totally see the light.

Originally posted by siree
After reading this thread I decided to test this theory and what do you know, rubbing two crystals together makes some pretty obvious sparks. just recorded this on a digital camera this morning. You can totally see the light.

That's awesome! I'm going to try that.

a certain hallucinogenic drug, (which i wont name for fear of T&C) can be refined from liquid into a pure solid crystal form which then also emits light like this.

reply to post by Phlynx

just a warning, if you cherish your crystals, brisk rubbing WILL begin scratching off layers. if you want them to remain flawless, don't try this at home ;-)