glow in the dark?

[dragonstar57]

is there to mix some chemicals to make a chemical reaction that would make it glow (like bioluminescence or glow in the dark) and could this be added to paint in some way to make a surface that would be more visible in the dark?

[JGK]

It is already available Wikilink

 

 

I dont think bioluminescent pait is feasible as the luminescence is a byproduct of a chemical reaction. If you could add the reactants to paint they would not take long to deplete.

[dragonstar57]

It is already available Wikilink

 

 

I dont think bioluminescent pait is feasible as the luminescence is a byproduct of a chemical reaction. If you could add the reactants to paint they would not take long to deplete.

i just added that part to make it obvious that it needs to be low temperature it can't glow red hot it has to be mostly light and little heat

[Mr Skeptic]

Glow-in-the-dark paint can be made such that it gets "charged" by light, and then visibly glows in the dark, but this glow will run out fairly quickly (an hour or less, I think). More permanently glowing paint could be made using radioactivity as the energy source; this was the original glow in the dark paint with radium used on old watches. Tritium is also used as an energy source for glowing things like some exit signs.

[dragonstar57]

Glow-in-the-dark paint can be made such that it gets "charged" by light, and then visibly glows in the dark, but this glow will run out fairly quickly (an hour or less, I think). More permanently glowing paint could be made using radioactivity as the energy source; this was the original glow in the dark paint with radium used on old watches. Tritium is also used as an energy source for glowing things like some exit signs.

is radiation not a problem?

Edited February 2, 2011 by dragonstar57

[Mr Skeptic]

Well apparently they used to lick the radium paint brushes to get the brush tip into a nice shape or something. That turned out to be a bad idea. If you use alpha radiation, it is blocked by a sheet of paper or a couple inches of air, for beta radiation you'd need a sheet of tin foil or several feet of air. Basically they are very easy to shield but you don't want them right on your skin or in your body. Gamma radiation you need thick lead. For your light sources you need one that is easily blocked otherwise it would go right through your paint instead of energizing it.

[Sand Grain]

If you noticed that before, you might have seen the small "strips" on the minutes and hours arm on a desktop clock. The effect, Phosphorescence, is emmiting some of the energy absorbed before, and so if you keep the clock in a well lit room and then turn off the light, you'll see these tiny strips glow in the dark!

 

If this is somehow implemented in a wallpaint, you would be able to see the walls of your room glow at night, and you won't bump into them when walking! (That's true if you prefer turning off all the lights in your house before you sleep )

 

Radioactivity is a bad choice, you're talking about cancer and mental illness if this were to be real.

 

So if white phosphorus was somehow "dissolved" or "mixed in" with a paint, the painted surface would glow for a short time after the lights go out. Chemilumicsence wouldnt last for long, as the Phosphorus actually gets oxidized irreversibly.