Some digging revealed the answer. It's called Triboluminescence. Basically, when certain materials are subjected to mechanical shock, chemical bonds are asymmetrically broken. This creates a charge separation, which on recombination ionizes the nitrogen in the air. Resnick-Halliday-Walker (in the Electric Field chapter--its the 'chapter conundrum-) states that the nitrogen emits UV light after ionozation. This UV light is absorbed by oil of wintergreen crystals in wintergreen lifesavers, which then emit blue light. All this absorption-emission of light is due to electrons jumping energy levels.

The Examples section of the linked wiki article mentions adhesive tape, so adhesive tape must have a similar mechanism. They're rather vague on the mechanism, though.

Another mechanism I've heard of is that the nitrogen in the air attaches to the broken bonds, releasing energy. That works, too.

Some digging revealed the answer. It's called Triboluminescence. Basically, when certain materials are subjected to mechanical shock, chemical bonds are asymmetrically broken. This creates a charge separation, which on recombination ionizes the nitrogen in the air. The book Solutions of Fundamentals of Physics by Resnick-Halliday-Walker states in Volume 2, Chapter 22 Electric Fields (the 'chapter conundrum'), that nitrogen emits UV light after ionization. This UV light is absorbed by oil of wintergreen crystals in wintergreen lifesavers, which then emit blue light. All this absorption-emission of light is due to electrons jumping energy levels.

The examples section of the linked Triboluminescence wiki article mentions adhesive tape, so adhesive tape must have a similar mechanism. They're rather vague on the mechanism, though.

Another mechanism I've heard of is that the nitrogen in the air attaches to the broken bonds, releasing energy. That works, too.

Some digging revealed the answer. It's called [Triboluminescence][1]. Basically, when certain materials are subjected to mechanical shock, chemical bonds are asymmetrically broken. This creates a charge separation, which on recombination ionizes the nitrogen in the air. Resnick-Halliday-Walker (in the Electric Field chapter--its the 'chapter conundrum-) states that the nitrogen emits UV light after ionozation. This UV light is absorbed by oil of wintergreen crystals in wintergreen lifesavers, which then emit blue light. All this absorption-emission of light is due to electrons jumping energy levels.

The Examples section of the linked wiki article mentions adhesive tape, so adhesive tape must have a similar mechanism. They're rather vague on the mechanism, though.

Another mechanism I've heard of is that the nitrogen in the air attaches to the broken bonds, releasing energy. That works, too.

1: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboluminescence

Some digging revealed the answer. It's called Triboluminescence. Basically, when certain materials are subjected to mechanical shock, chemical bonds are asymmetrically broken. This creates a charge separation, which on recombination ionizes the nitrogen in the air. Resnick-Halliday-Walker (in the Electric Field chapter--its the 'chapter conundrum-) states that the nitrogen emits UV light after ionozation. This UV light is absorbed by oil of wintergreen crystals in wintergreen lifesavers, which then emit blue light. All this absorption-emission of light is due to electrons jumping energy levels.

The Examples section of the linked wiki article mentions adhesive tape, so adhesive tape must have a similar mechanism. They're rather vague on the mechanism, though.

Another mechanism I've heard of is that the nitrogen in the air attaches to the broken bonds, releasing energy. That works, too.