Answer to Question #84 in Optics for Mel

Question

A glass bottle covered of fluorescent lights is covered on the inside with phosphor - a substance that provides the spectrum, close to the sun when it is irradiated by violet or ultraviolet light. Explain the reason for the phenomenon.

Answer 1

The phenomenon is called luminescence. The physical nature of the luminescence is explained in the radiative transitions of electrons of the atoms or molecules from the excited to the ground state, excited by ultraviolet light, they emit in turn in the visible range.