News You Can't Use: Pickles Glow When You Run Electricity Through Them

Stick two metal electrodes into opposite ends of a pickle, hook them up to mains electricity, and stand back.

Within seconds, the pickle begins to hiss and steam. Then one end suddenly erupts in a fierce orange glow, as if the vegetable has briefly turned into a lamp.

The “glowing pickle” has been a favorite classroom stunt for decades. The usual explanation is simple: the salty brine conducts electricity, and excited sodium ions produce the orange light. But that’s only part of the story.

After sacrificing more than 100 pickles to science, an electrical engineer at Portland State University believes he is finally closing in on an explanation. And surprisingly, it involves tiny hydrogen explosions.