Try it! It doesnt work on all of them, but most of the time it does.
Try it! It doesnt work on all of them, but most of the time it does.
It's chemistry. It's what I do.
If the detergent contains optical whitener (only laundry detergents for white clothes do) it will have a very strong blue fluorescence.
Like Things says, highlighter pens are also fluorescent. They have very efficient dyes, so their fluorescence will be really strong.
As for fluorescent objects in nature it seems green is the most common color. For example fatty residues are green, but bacteria usually have a red fluorescence. You can also try different flowers.
Fluorescence is not limited to UV/violet light, but it is far easier to see at those wavelengths.
In the process of fluorescence the light loses some energy, thus making it longer in wavelength. This means that light can only make objects glow in a color that is to the right of it in the spectrum. Since violet is the leftmost color it means the whole spectrum is available for fluorescence. But for a green light source only yellow, orange and red are available.
Another factor that makes fluorescence more obvious for UV/violet light sources is that the light itself at those wavelengths is hard to see. If you use for example green light instead the fluorescence is likely to drown in the reflected green light.
Fluorescence is not limited to visible light either. One example of particular interest for us is the fluorescence of neodymium(III) in the IR (808nm->1064nm) used in all of our green DPSS lasers.
They are indeed different things, but also very similar. Fluorescence is spontaneous emission of light and this is what happens in a laser below its lasing threshold. It is undesirable above the lasing threshold, because most of the photons emitted by it are going to waste. However, a small fraction of the photons (originating from the fluorescence) will eventually start to resonate the cavity (there are sufficiently many of them at the lasing threshold). Thus, without the fluorescence there would be no lasing.
Most people call it fluorescence, but looking at the lifetime of the excited state in Nd:YAG (~200µs) it actually seems closer to phosphorescence. The excited stated in fluorescence only has a lifetime of a few nanoseconds. I'm not sure if the excited state is a triplet state however.
Right now I'm doing my diploma work for a MSc in chemistry and chemical engineering. It is in organic chemistry where I'm synthesizing novel organic dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells. I have only made a couple of new (as in never existed before in the universe) dyes, but it's pretty exciting work.
Phosphorescence is the process in most "glow in the dark" products. It is much slower than fluorescence. A phosphorescent material can glow for several hours after being excited by a light source.
I have studied about half a years worth of quantum chemistry, that's where most of this knowledge comes from. Unfortunately quantum chemistry is fairly useless at this time, so I almost consider it to be wasted time.
You have studied quantum chemistry, organic chemistry, chemistry engineering. You are so gifted at chemistry. My major is optical engineering when I am in college. If some subject with the word of engineering, it will near out daily life and not be very bald, I think. Not like the pure academic ones. But the quantum chemistry makes you acquainted much.
As for the Dye-sensitized solar cell, I come up with an experiment I had made. the anodic oxidation coating. We used the semiconductor material in electrolyte and add electric current to it, the surface of the semiconductor will be oxidation, and became an even layer film. It is interesting.