Light flashes sparked by acoustic shock waves far outshine those created by manual crushing.Mechanoluminescence, also known as tribolu-minescence or fractoluminescence, is light emission induced as a result of mechanical action on a solid — for example, Francis Bacon noted as long ago as 1605 that lumps of sugar emitted light when scraped. Here we elicit mech-anoluminescence by a new means, acoustic cavitation, and find intense luminescence and emission lines that are not generated by other mechanisms such as grinding, cleaving, rubbing, scratching, biting or thermal shock.
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