Take a phosphor that fits the bill, mix it in with the plastic to be molded into the product, and you have yourself a glow-in-the-dark whatever. Light from the sun or the living room lamp energizes the phosphors in the plastic and excites them, and with the lights off, you can watch as their atoms slowly lose this extra energy in the form of a dim glow.
Beyond the usual glow-in-the-dark artifact, there are some special cases where glowing products work a little differently. Glow sticks work by chemiluminescence — that is, the light is emitted as a product of a chemical reaction. Timepieces like this still use phosphors to create the glow, but also have a little bit of a radioactive element like radium added to the glowing parts, which gives off small amounts of energy — not enough to be dangerous to the user, but, historically, a problem for the people who make the products — that constantly charge the phosphors in the same way a light would and keep the item glowing through the night.
You can also go through online reviews or feedback prior to purchase to get detailed ideas about glow toys from people who have already used them. Both substances glow in the dark in a similar way, but there is a very significant difference between them. Phosphorus is a non-toxic substance, safe to use, and available for sale, while radium is considered radioactive and not accessible to the public. All glow in the dark toys is manufactured or created using phosphorus.
It is a non-toxic substance that comes with the capability to store and reflect light. In a dark area or environment, it starts to emit light perceivable in the form of a bright glow. To get glow persistently, you need to recharge the toy by placing it under a source of light for some time.
Basically, you need to expose it to light if you want it to work for a long time. Usually, a glow in the dark toy will emit light for several hours before it needs to be charged again. This process is similar to photosynthesis. Phosphorus, as already said, absorbs and reserves light for re-emission.
The glow you get from phosphorus lasts from three to ten hours prior to putting the toy under the source of light again. This substance usually comes in the form of powder and can be used safely. On the other side, radium is a dangerous radioactive substance. It glows on its own without the help of anything. The light radium radiates lasts for years until the substance eventually wears off. Radium is typically kept in glass tubes. Hopefully, by now, you must have understood that glow in the dark toys is basically safe to use for kids of all ages.
These toys are basically made from strontium aluminate, a type of phosphors that is safe for use. We spent countless hours in near darkness racing the slot cars on the track, conveniently adjacent to the toasty warm coal stove. I have since learned that glow-in-the-dark toys are typically manufactured using a substance called a opens in a new window phosphor. The glow that results in the form of light emission— opens in a new window photoluminescence —is called opens in a new window phosphorescence.
The phosphors most commonly used by toy manufacturers are opens in a new window zinc sulfide and opens in a new window strontium aluminate.
Toys made using strontium aluminate tend to glow longer than those made with zinc sulfide due to its higher level of luminous intensity. During the manufacturing process, phosphors are mixed in with plastic resulting in a phosphor-plastic compound that is molded into the shape of the toy or toy part.
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