Glowing Beverage Fun

The secret to glowing food is tonic water, which has quinine, which glows under a black light.

It is supposed to glow so much that you can make other drinks, such as Country Time Lemonade with just some tonic water in it (half and half, or even less tonic) and it will still glow. This will cut down on the bitter taste. Some people have even made Jello Jigglers with them.

We just had fun with it straight.

So, if you would like some simple fun, just turn down the lights, flip on a black light, and grab a bottle of tonic water.

And the science behind it?
There are a lot of everyday materials that fluoresce, or glow, when placed under a black light. A black light gives off highly energetic ultraviolet light. You can't see this part of the spectrum. Fluorescent substances absorb the ultraviolet light and then re-emit it almost instantaneously. Some energy gets lost in the process, so the emitted light has a longer wavelength than the absorbed radiation, which makes this light visible and causes the material to appear to 'glow'.