At the Desk of Prof. Magma

Fluorescence vs. Glow-In-The-Dark aka Phosphorescence

If you're a person who spends many hours with kids, or you yourself have kid interests, then you are familiar with the joys that can be brought by fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark objects. While picking out t-shirts or stickers at the store, have you ever asked yourself, what is the difference between these objects which are simply florescent and those which often come in the same bright colors, but glow-in-the-dark?

Well, Prof Magma is here to share shed some luminescence on the subject. Fact: both objects contain molecules that absorb photons which are emitted by UV light. Fact: both objects' molecules vibrate due to this absorption, re-emitting the light energy of these photons. Fact: both objects re-emit this energy at a longer wavelength, making it visible to our eyes and causing a glowing effect. BUT (fact): fluorescent objects re-emit this energy nearly instantly while glow-in-the-dark objects re-emit very slowly over time, creating a "charge" that produces a glow after the original light source have been removed.

So, on a non-quantum mechanics level, you now why some things glow-in-the-dark and others do not! Fabulous!