You will need:
- Sugar lumps
- Pliers
- Plate
We use sugar every day in our food. But do you know that something as simple as sugar can also glow in the dark? Try out this simple experiment to find out how and why.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Take sugar lumps on a plate and along with your friends find a room that is completely dark.
- Turn off all the lights and wait for a few minutes to let your eyes adjust to the darkness.
- Ask an adult to help you
with the pliers. - Once your eyes have
adjusted, ask an adult to
use the pliers to crush
the lumps of sugar.
RESULT
Keep crushing the lumps of sugar. With good luck you should be able to see blue-green sparks emitted from the sugar when it is being crushed. This takes place because sugar is made up of crystals. Due to their asymmetric nature, some areas on the crystal are positively charged while some are negatively charged. When the crystal is fractured, the molecules on one half get more positively charged and the other half gets more negatively charged. When the crystal is pulled apart, the negative and positive charges create energy which is seen in the form of blue-green sparks of light.
