Glow Powder...how does it work?

LEDBE
bluewater

bluewater

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 4, 2002
Messages
160
Location
Ontario, Canada
After a couple weeks playing with some paint it finally occurred to me...how the heck does this stuff work? Yes I know you shine light on it
yellowlaugh.gif
But what's the science behind it. I noticed that a red laser doesn't do anything to it. A web search turned up no answers.
 
A visualization might help. If you visualize the electrons in orbit around the molecular nucleus when absorbing the energy of light striking it, the effect of the light is to flip the electrons into a higher orbit. Of course the higher orbit took energy to get them there, but since that particular orbit isn't the normal arrangement, they eventually drop back down into their normal orbit. When they do, they release the energy they've absorbed in the form of a photon,giving off light.
 
I found, by trial and error experimentation, that blue, white or UV light will charge up the glow-dust, while red, orange, slime-green and true green don't. There must be a maximum wavelength cut-off around 500 nM.
Supposedly, red light can "discharge" the stuff, but I haven't been able to prove that out, yet.

/ed B in NH
 
I didn't believe that red light would "discharge" the glow materials until I saw Aragorn do it with a red Arc LS. We charged up a big sheet, then placed the red Arc LS on it face down and turned in on. After about a minute we removed the Arc and there was a much darker spot on the otherwise uniformly glowing sheet .
 
I remember as a kid trying to get glow-in-the-dark items to glow red using a red light, with no effect.

Using my Rave'n Eternalight shoved up against a glow-in-the-dark football I have here, I get nothing out of red and yellow, a little bit out of green, and a big glow out of blue. I just tested the red discharge theory, and it worked on the football too... learn something new every day.
 
A college in North Carolina contacted us at Glow Inc. recently because students wanted to do an in-depth study of the science behind the new photoluminescent powders. They are going to provide us with their analysis and extreme details on the makeup. In exchange for the ability to put this info on our website, we sent them free powder in addition to the powder they ordered. It will be about 6 months. But, I beleive we will have the first detailed online technical discussion of glow powders on our website. I am really excited.

Daniel Clark
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Glow Inc.
http://www.glowinc.com
 
No, the radioactive stuff was banned in the 50's. Although we regularly get phone calls from people that want to sell it to us. The photoluminescent products sold today are completely non-hazardous and non-toxic.
 
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Is that stuff dangerous at all? Doesn't it contain a radioactive element?

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Those "glow rings" have a bit of tritium in them, but glow powders do not have any radioactive elements or compounds of any sort in them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
So you're safe experimenting with these powders. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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I found, by trial and error experimentation, that blue, white or UV light will charge up the glow-dust, while red, orange, slime-green and true green don't. There must be a maximum wavelength cut-off around 500 nM.
/ed B in NH

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As was pointed out above, a photon must "bump" an electron up to a higher level. Due to the nature of quantum physics, this "bump" must have at least a certain amount of energy to work. If a photon does not have enough energy, all you get is heat. This means that each substance has a minimum wavelength of light that is needed to charge it.

Since similar substances are used in a white LED, this explains why you need a blue LED before you can make a white one. Putting phospor on a red LED would not work for this reason.
 
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Skylighter said:
A college in North Carolina contacted us at Glow Inc. recently because students wanted to do an in-depth study of the science behind the new photoluminescent powders. They are going to provide us with their analysis and extreme details on the makeup. In exchange for the ability to put this info on our website, we sent them free powder in addition to the powder they ordered. It will be about 6 months. But, I beleive we will have the first detailed online technical discussion of glow powders on our website. I am really excited.

Daniel Clark
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Glow Inc.


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how did it go?
 
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