Mood necklaces have become a popular jewelry item, especially among teenagers and young adults. But how exactly do these necklaces change color in response to your mood? Let’s take a closer look at the science behind mood necklaces.
What is a Mood Necklace?
A mood necklace, also sometimes called a mood ring, is a piece of jewelry that appears to change colors based on the emotional state or mood of the wearer. Mood necklaces are typically made of metal set with a special thermochromic liquid crystal. This liquid crystal is temperature sensitive and will change color with the heat of your skin.
The most common type of mood necklace contains the liquid crystal in a clear dome-shaped pendant dangling from a chain. As you experience different emotions, your skin temperature may fluctuate slightly, and this change is detected by the crystal. The crystal then changes color to supposedly indicate your mood.
Popular Colors and Meanings
While there is no standardized color guide, many mood necklace retailers provide a chart of common colors and associated meanings:
| Color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Black | Stressed |
| Blue | Calm |
| Green | Normal, balanced |
| Red | Excited, passion |
| Yellow | Happy, optimistic |
| Brown | Sad, depressed |
| Purple | Romantic, flirtatious |
So in theory, your mood necklace pendant will turn blue when you feel relaxed, red if you’re worked up about something, green when you’re feeling normal, and so on. The color meanings can vary slightly between brands.
How Does it Work?
To understand how a mood necklace works, you need to understand thermochromic liquid crystals. These crystals contain specially engineered molecules that are extremely sensitive to small temperature changes.
Within the crystal, the molecules are arranged in a helical structure, forming a kind of spiral staircase shape. When the temperature changes, these molecules shift position, which changes the way light passes through them and gets reflected back to your eyes.
So for example, at lower temperatures, the molecules may reflect back blue light. As they get warmer, they could shift to reflect green, then yellow, and so on through the color spectrum depending on temperature.
The thermochromic crystals in mood jewelry are designed to shift colors within the small temperature range of normal human skin, which is typically around 89-95°F. As your skin warms with increased blood circulation or cools slightly due to mood changes, the pendant responds by changing colors.
Accuracy of Mood Readings
While mood necklaces rely on some interesting science, their ability to actually detect your mood based on skin temperature is questionable. There are a few reasons why they cannot provide an accurate mood reading:
– The temperature sensitivity is low – While these crystals do change color with minute temperature differences, the full color change occurs over a wider 5-10°F range. The tiny fluctuations in your skin temperature do not necessarily align with specific moods.
– Outside temperatures affect readings – Ambient air temperature can alter the baseline temperature of the crystal, making the color unreliable. Warm rooms or handling the pendant a lot can also change the readings.
– Different people have different skin temperatures – A color indicating “happy” for one person may indicate “normal” for someone else with cooler average skin temperature.
– Many factors besides mood affect skin temperature – Stress, exercise, medications, and various illnesses can alter skin temperature without necessarily impacting mood.
Can Mood Necklaces Detect Emotions?
Overall, most scientists agree that mood necklaces and rings cannot actually detect your emotions or moods with any reasonable accuracy. However, the color changes can be entertaining and the necklaces remain popular.
Some mental health experts argue these kinds of products should not be marketed as legitimate mood detectors, as they could provide false or confusing information to vulnerable wearers.
That said, the consensus is that mood necklaces are fine as novelty items. The color changes offer a fun talking point to bond with friends, spark intriguing conversations, provide creative inspiration, or simply add some interactive jewelry flair to your look. Just take the colors and meanings with a grain of salt.
Tips for Best Results
While mood necklaces may not offer scientific mood readings, you can get the most striking and fun color changes by following these tips:
– Start with a baseline temperature – Put on the necklace and wait 5-10 minutes for it to stabilize before assuming the color reflects your mood.
– Reduce rapid temperature changes – Avoid quick temperature spikes by limiting hand-warming, rubbing, or breathing heavily on the pendant. This allows more gradual natural shifts.
– Consider ambient temperatures – Cooler environments may limit the range of color change. Keeping your neck and the pendant covered with a scarf or collar in chilly weather can help.
– Allow time to adjust – Have patience when your mood seems to change and give the pendant several minutes to reflect this change visually.
– Avoid water contact – Water can temporarily alter the crystalline structure and affect color, so take the necklace off before washing hands, showering, etc.
With a little experimentation, you can find the right conditions to create the most vivid and variable color displays from your mood necklace.
The History of Mood Necklaces
The mood ring craze kicked off in the 1970s, tapping into New Age interest in emotion, spirituality, and color psychology. While earlier temperance-detecting jewelry existed, Maris Ambats of Bonanza Jewelry is credited with introducing the first modern mood ring in 1975.
Building on the concept, Joshua Reynolds then created the mood necklace in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Like mood rings, the necklaces became a bold fashion statement during the Disco Era. However, they achieved even greater mainstream popularity.
Both mood rings and necklaces saw a revival in the 1990s and early 2000s. As liquid crystal technology improved, they became an iconic symbol of the psychedelic culture around raves, Burning Man, and the early internet.
Today, mood necklaces remain a playful jewelry piece and ’90s/’Y2K throwback fashion accessory. Social media continues to drive interest, with mood necklace reviews and unboxings gaining millions of views on YouTube and TikTok. Retailers like Etsy and Amazon have also made mood necklaces widely accessible.
While the original New Age significance has faded, mood necklaces endure as a unique way for people to express their style and personality. The interactive experience adds a bit of science magic both wearers and observers enjoy.
Selecting a Quality Mood Necklace
Not all mood necklaces on the market are created equal when it comes to responding quickly and smoothly to subtle temperature changes. Here are some tips for picking out a quality mood necklace:
– Seek precision-calibrated crystals – Quality crystals are carefully calibrated to the optimal human skin temperature range.
– Prefer translucent/transparent pendants – Clearer pendants allow better light reflection to see color shifts.
– Check for smooth dome shape – Flatter pendants won’t distort color viewing like pointed shapes.
– Ensure adequate pendant size – Larger pendants offer more liquid crystal material to react. Aim for at least 1-inch diameter.
– Consider pendant material – Low-conductivity metals like surgical stainless steel maintain precise ambient temperature.
– Select adjustable length – Getting the right neck-to-chest fit ensures best skin contact.
– Read customer reviews – Research to discover how responsive real customers found the necklace.
With careful selection, you can find a high-quality mood necklace that provides a wide spectrum of vivid, sensitive color changes for many years of use.
Conclusion
While mood necklaces don’t actually read your emotions, they do offer cool interactive jewelry through the scientific magic of thermochromic crystals. With knowledge of how mood necklaces work physically and some temperature regulation tips, you can have fun watching yours shift through colorful displays. Or simply enjoy its nostalgic mood ring origins as a wearable conversation piece. Either way, mood necklaces let you accessorize with a bit of novelty science.