My Mood Ring Is Green

Remember back in elementary and middle school when all the cool kids had mood rings? Oh yes, they were AWESOME. All the colors meant a little something different, and my favorite was always green.

Under most mood ring color schemes, green indicates a state of contentment or relaxation. Now, back then, I didn’t have a problem with being cool, calm and collected. But now that I’m older, and working a big kid job, paying big kid bills and dealing with big kid issues, sometimes my mood is a little out of wack…

On a side note, ever wondered how these suckers work? I always did. Good thing there’s Google.

According to HowStuffWorks, “The stone in a mood ring is either a hollow glass shell filled with thermotropic liquid crystals, or a clear glass stone sitting on top of a thin sheet of liquid crystals (see How LCDs Work for lots of details on liquid crystals). These liquid crystal molecules are very sensitive; they change position, or twist, according to changes in temperature. 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.’ The color green, which signifies ‘average’ on the mood ring color scale, is calibrated to the surface temperature of a typical person, approximately 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius). 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.”

There are lots of things that one can do keep their internal mood ring green - some enjoy exercise, others a delicious meal or a glass of wine. But did you know that everyday activities involving recycling, preserving recourses and being generally “green”-minded can actually help out too?

It’s true. Try a spot of gardening, or, if you’d don’t have the space, plant a few things in pretty pots. Go on a walk, and breathe in the crisp clean air. Make the walk a game with your kids and pick up recyclable material along the way.

I guarantee if you threw on that ring it’d read a pretty green color.

By: Gingerly Green of Two Girls Go Green

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