Mood rings were invented as early as the 1960s; however, they peaked in popularity during the 1970s. For those who don’t know, the premise of a mood ring is that it’ll change color depending on the wearer’s emotions. Today, many people believe mood rings to be a flimsy gimmick; however, their functionality is actually quite scientific. Although a mood ring can’t unquestionably determine one’s mood, it uses your body’s temperature to make an educated guess about your emotional state. This doesn’t guarantee a definitive indicator of one’s feelings, but the science behind it is still pretty cool. Here’s how they work.
How They Work
Essentially, mood rings utilize the special physics and chemistry of liquid crystals, which are neither liquid nor solid in their natural molecular state. Although this may sound confusing, it simply means that liquid crystals are capable of moving their orientation fluidly as a liquid does, but they maintain their atomical structure in the same way a solid does.
Materials with a flexible existence such as these are otherwise known as mesogens. A mesogens optical, electronic, and physical properties are determined via the chemical compounds that form its molecules. The most common types of mesogens are lyotropics, polymerics, and thermotropics. Additionally, mesogens are also capable of existing in mesophases, which are different molecular organizations. The major mesophases are smectic, cholesteric, and nematic. Consequently, a mood ring’s stone is made from a hollow piece of quartz or glass, which is filled with cholesteric thermotropic liquid crystals.
The molecules of cholesteric liquid crystals are described as “rigid rods”, which means they’re sporadically placed, whilst still facing the same way. Despite this, upon moving through, you’ll discover that the direction of the molecules shifts; however, when appearing together, they form a helical structure.
This unique composition allows for the circular polarization of light, which provides a mood ring with its color. Light polarization refers to a beam interacting with a medium and leaving yielding light waves in a singular plane. Upon the cholesteric thermotropic liquid crystal being penetrated by light, it gets consecutively altered through the various molecular layers until it eventually leaves the crystal in multiple angles. This divergence in directions results in reduced wave interference, facilitating the absorption and reflection of light wavelengths, simply known as colors.
How Does This Reflect Emotion?
So, that’s how mood rings work, but how does this reflect human emotion? Essentially, your body temperature will change depending on how you’re feeling. The base of the ring will then carry this temperature to the cholesteric thermotropic liquid crystals, leading to the helical organizational twisting of molecules. Consequently, the compression or elongation of the structure allows for various light wavelengths.
When feeling relatively neutral, the crystals undergo minimal twisting, resulting in a green or blue light. On the contrary, passion influences the body to send blood to the skin’s surface, which leads to the ring being heated, causing shorter wavelengths that reflect colors such as violet and indigo.
Furthermore, when one is experiencing emotions of alertness, such as anxiety or excitement, the body will take the opposite effect and divert blood towards the internal organs, which deters it from the skin’s surface. Therefore, the wavelengths become elongated, which results in colors such as brown, red, and yellow.
Conclusion
All in all, the “technology” of a mood ring isn’t as deceptive as you perhaps initially believed. Yes, you must bear in mind that your body can change temperature as a result of factors unrelated to emotion (e.g., illness, environment, exercise, etc.) but, in some cases, your mood ring may well be reflecting exactly how you feel.
