Will A Life Savers Wint-O-Green Mint Make An Electric Spark When We Crush It? [Video]

Today, my 10-Year-Old son Bill told me that if you crush a Life Savers Wint-O-Green mint in the dark, it will make a big electric spark. I figured hey, I've got some of those mints and a pair of needle-nose pliers, so let's put it to the test!

As you'll see in the video, he was absolutely right. It let out a pretty big, blue spark when we crushed it. I'm not sure if it would actually shock you if you touched it, but it definitively sparked.

Apparently, just about all candy lets out a spark when you eat them, but these mints produce a much greater spark.

From how stuffworks.com -

This brighter light is produced by the wintergreen flavoring. Methyl salicylate, or oil of wintergreen, is fluorescent, meaning it absorbs light of a shorter wavelength and then emits it as light of a longer wavelength. Ultraviolet light has a shorter wavelength than visible light. So when a Wint-O-Green Life Saver is crushed between your teeth, the methyl salicylate molecules absorb the ultraviolet, shorter wavelength light produced by the excited nitrogen, and re-emit it as light of the visible spectrum, specifically as blue light -- thus the blue sparks that jump out of your mouth when you crunch on a Wint-O-Green Life Saver.

Oh yeah, make sure to watch until the very end. I just couldn't help myself...