What is the difference between glow in the dark and uv

These organic and inorganic forms, naturally fluoresce, but their true beauty can not be seen in darkness, by the human eye unless we use a object like a UV Black Light Torch. When we wash our clothes, use washing powder, or liquid, with optical brighteners included, these helps to make our white clothing appear whiter, and our colours look brighter. Return to our home page. The main differences between glow in the dark, and UV Black Light Products are UV Black Light Products have a consistent glow, but glow in the dark products start off with a strong glow effect and their glow intensity diminishes over time.

Glow in the dark products do not. How about bowling? Did you know that both of those activities can be way more fun if you do them in the dark under a black light? When that happens, you're set for some glow-in-the-dark fun! Whether you've been glow bowling or experienced the glow-in-the-dark effects of a black light at a skating rink or an amusement park funhouse , you know what a cool and eerie sensation it is to see your clothing glow like it's radioactive.

What's going on here? Are black lights magic? They're simple tools that take advantage of science. Let's take a closer look at black lights and why they make things glow. Black lights are made in much the same way that regular incandescent or fluorescent lights are made. The primary difference is in the glass , coatings, or filters that are used in black lights. Black lights use these different materials so that most of the light emitted is ultraviolet UV light with just a bit of visible light in the wavelengths closest to the UV spectrum indigo and violet.

That's why black lights usually appear dark blue or purple. Ultraviolet light can't be detected by the naked eye. We're surrounded by UV light every day when we enjoy the rays of the Sun.

Although UV light has some fun applications, we must be careful to avoid overexposure , which can lead to increased risk of skin cancer , eye damage, and skin aging. When UV light bounces off objects that contain special substances called phosphors, interesting things happen.

Phosphors are substances that emit visible light in response to radiation. Phosphors hit by UV light become excited and naturally fluoresce, or in other words, glow. In addition, although your eyes can't see the UV light as it leaves the black light, some of that UV light that gets reflected back to your eyes after hitting the phosphors now has less energy and falls within the visible range.

These factors combine to produce the glow-in-the-dark effects you're familiar with. There all sorts of phosphors, both natural and man-made. For example, your teeth and fingernails contain phosphors, which explains why they glow under a black light. There are also many man-made phosphors found in fabrics, paints, and building materials. That's why certain clothing and fluorescent objects look so cool under a black light.

Black lights have many practical applications beyond simply having fun while bowling , dancing, or roller skating. Forensic experts, for example, can use black lights to examine crime scenes for evidence of bodily fluids, such as blood. Law enforcement officers can use black lights to identify counterfeit money, as well as forgeries of antiques and artwork.

We hope you're glowing with Wonder! Don't forget to check out the following activities with a friend or family member:. Thanks, Shia! Do you like dodgeball? Well said, Madison. Understanding how it all works can be complicated, but we try to make it a little easier with Wonders like this one. Thanks for commenting!

They are pretty cool, Jordan! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Do you have some black lights at home? Great question, Braylen! Sounds like you might have a little experiment to try. Let us know what happens! Maybe check with an adult first, just to be safe we don't want you accidentally imploding the universe on us.

Good luck, Wonder Friend! We will second that! We love to get Wonders from our Wonder Friends! Submit it here: Wonder Bank. Thanks for joining the discussion, bobo. Black light is a form of ultra-violet UV light. We hope you'll check out our Wonder Sources listed above to find out more about black light.

It's pretty neat to see, Annette! Maybe you and your family can take a field trip to a skating rink or laser tag place to check it out in person! Thanks for sharing your connection to this Wonder, Lucy! We think it's pretty cool when your clothes glow but everything else is dark! Hi, splash man! We think maybe our Wonder Friend below was just kidding.

But it's hard to tell when you're typing and not face-to-face! Hey, t money! Thanks for joining us at Wonderopolis. We're glad you stopped by Wonderopolis and learned something new with us, Stacey! We hope to hear from you again soon! Thanks for commenting -- we hope to hear from you again soon! It does look like a lot of fun, doesn't it, Jayden?! This video was produced for a particular church in Tennessee, but black light dodge ball is a trend that's catching on in cities across the U.

Perhaps research leagues in your local community or organize a game of your own! Thank you for leaving us this comment, Sally! Did you know we have lots of Wonders about dogs? Transparent paints are best used on white or light colored fabrics, and opaque paints are best used on dark or black fabrics. What kind of pigment goes into the medium gives each type of paint certain visual characteristics.

This is where all the more confusing descriptions come in, like fluorescent, phosphorescent, metallic, pearlescent, iridescent, hi-light or interference. That is what we are going to define next, so that you can refine your choice of color and get what you need. Phosphorescent - really truly glows in the dark! For trick-or-treating and Halloween props, Phosphorescent paint is the spookiest with its otherworldly glow, and also helps you see your little tykes and identify them from the other ones when they are racing ahead of you to the next house of treats.

It is made from phosphors such as silver-activated zinc sulfide or, more recently strontium aluminate, and typically glows a pale green to greenish blue color. The mechanism for producing light is similar to that of fluorescent paint, but the emission of visible light persists for some time after it has been exposed to light. It is sort of "charged" by the light.

Phosphorescent paints have a sustained glow, which lasts for some minutes or hours after exposure to light, but will eventually fade over time.

This kind of paint used to look fairly colorless or very pale in the daylight. Our newer Glow Paint Tubes and Speedball's Night Glo silkscreen colors have pigment added that you can see in the daylight to make them more interesting, then when the lights go out, they glow from the phosphor pigments. Fluorescent - Does not glow in the dark, but DOES glow very intensely under so called fluorescent black lights. Fluorescent paint reacts to long-wave ultraviolet UV radiation, commonly known as black light.

Through the mechanism of fluorescence, UV-sensitive pigments present in the paint absorb the ultraviolet black light invisible to the human eye and give off visible light in return. Fluorescent paint appears a bright neon color under normal daylight or other visible light, and glows brilliantly under black light.

You will see it used extensively in rides in amusement parks. Several of the brands of paint and markers that we carry have fluorescent colors as well as regular colors to choose from. If it says fluorescent, it will glow under black light.

Any of our Glow-in-the Dark paints will also brightly fluoresce under black light. We also have 4 colors of Jacquard Acid Dye and 2 colors of Dharma Acid Dye for silk that just happen to be fluorescent even though they are not indicated as such, and are used to dye silks that are being used in dramatic black lit stage productions.