What makes mood rings change colour

This change in molecular structure affects the wavelengths of light that are absorbed or reflected by the liquid crystals, resulting in an apparent change in the color of the stone. For example, as the temperature increases, the liquid crystal molecules twist slightly in one direction. This twist causes the liquid crystal substance to absorb more of the red and green portions of the visible light, and reflect the blue part.

This causes the stone to appear dark blue. When the temperature decreases, the molecules begin to twist in the other direction, and reflect a different portion of the spectrum. The inside of the ring conducts heat from your finger to the liquid crystals in the "stone.

If your surface temperature varies far enough from the norm, then the liquid crystals in the stone alter enough to cause a change in the color reflected. And if you take a mood ring off, it will normally change to black unless the ambient temperature is very high.

Take a look at the Mood Ring colors listed below, and what "mood" they represent. The colors are listed according to the change in temperature they represent, with dark blue being the warmest and black the coolest. If you take a moment to think about the moods represented by the colors, you'll see a definite correlation between your body's surface temperature and the color of the liquid crystal. When you are in a passionate mood, your skin is usually flushed.

This is a physical reaction to an emotion, causing the capillaries to move closer to the surface of the skin and release heat. This brings about a slight change in the surface temperature of your body. When you are nervous or stressed, your skin may feel clammy. This physical reaction to your emotional state causes the capillaries to move deeper into your skin, causing the surface temperature to drop. Reynolds seems to have been the brains behind the operation.

He was working in a stressful job on Wall Street at the time, and was fascinated by the idea of biofeedback. Reynolds theorized that this would enable people to better control their feelings through meditation. They became enormously popular in the s, with over 40 million sold within three months of hitting the shops. Although rings were the first piece of jewelry to attempt to read the mood, other experiments quickly followed. Bracelets, pendants, and chokers were all produced. But by the end of the decade, the popularity of mood jewelry had faded.

Mood rings enjoyed a brief resurgence in the early 90s, before being forgotten about once more. Nowadays, a mood ring is again a popular, fun, and innovative gift. The setting for a mood ring can be made of any substance. Silver is a popular choice, and less expensive mood rings may be set in base metal.

The crystal in a mood ring must be thermochromic. That means it will react to changes in temperature by changing color. Different mood rings can be made of different kinds of crystal and will, therefore, vary in shade. That protects them from moisture or excessive heat, which would otherwise damage them. It also means mood rings can be almost any shape or size. Classic plain wedding rings can be lifted by a central color-changing band.

And they make a great talking point! But exactly how does that happen? Well, as the temperature changes, the crystals themselves actually twist. That means that the light passes through them in different ways, refracting and absorbing varying parts of the color spectrum. I doubt anyone has ever had total faith in mood rings, but the very idea that their manufacturers would make such a lofty claim needled at me.

Yes, I was kind of a weird kid. Plus, these things have been around for over 40 years. If they have had such staying power, doesn't that mean that at least some people find them illuminating? So, in the name of Science and in order to get more in touch with my emotions, I guess , I embarked on a week-long experiment to see if mood rings could really sense actual human emotions.

The parameters of my test were straightforward: I would wear a mood ring for as much of the day as was reasonable and record any changes in the stone's color. For my ring, the color and mood correspondences were: black for stress, reddish-magenta for nervous, orange for unsettled, green for active, turquoise for relaxed, blue for lovable, and purple for romantic.

Before the experiment even began, I was skeptical, since I don't think anyone has ever described their mood as "lovable," but sure, okay. A few things were clear within the first few days of the experiment: In a normal day of desk-bound work, the ring didn't change color too frequently.

Instead, it usually hovered within the turquoise-blue relaxed-lovable range — most consistently during my morning coffee, when my hands were notably warm. Certain activities did cause the color to change, though with varying accuracy. Conducting a phone interview turned the ring magenta suggesting I was nervous , which isn't completely off-base ; and it was usually orange unsettled while I was rushing into the office again, not untrue.

But the ring turned green to reflect activity when I had to put in eyedrops, though, in my mind, eyedrop application is not a very "active" endeavor. And the only way I could get it to register "stress" and turn black was by running it under freezing cold water — even at my most stressed , the ring didn't seem to notice.