Martha went on an overnight backpacking trip and came back with a new word: triboluminescence, which refers to the glow created by rubbing together two pieces of quartz. The tribo- is from a Greek root meaning “to rub,” the source also of diatribe, which has to do with “wearing away” using words. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Triboluminescence”
I just came back from an overnight backpacking trip in the desert, and I came back with a great souvenir.
What is it?
Well, you’re not supposed to pick things up and take them out, but I came back with a fabulous word that I’d never heard before.
Oh, I was thinking pictures or a little pinch of sand or something like that.
Oh, no pinch of sand, no broken pottery. We don’t do that, but I came back with the word triboluminescence.
Triboluminescence.
The last part seems clear to me, but I don’t know what the tribo is.
Exactly. What is that?
I knew what it was as soon as I heard it because it comes from the Greek word meaning to rub. If you’re in a dark place and you take two pieces of quartz and rub them together really fast, then they kind of glow. You see these little sparks.
And the tribo, as I said, is from Greek for to rub. And I got all excited when I learned this word from a fellow camper because it’s related to the word diatribe, which goes back to the idea of just sort of wearing somebody down with a lecture. And it’s the same scientific phenomenon that happens.
Have you ever gone into a dark room and broken wintergreen lifesavers and see the little sparks? It’s the same principle.
That’s super interesting.
So you were in the desert rubbing courts together?
Yes, around the campfire.
Was this some kind of ritual? Were you praying to some kind of gods or something?
No, no. It was just demonstrating that little triboluminescence.
Triboluminescence. It’s such a beautiful word. You know, it sparks created by friction. Now, if that’s not the title of a poetry collection.
That’s awesome. Somebody please write that.
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