minerals(fluorescent)

There are several ways that minerals can emit light, besides the light that is emitted from exposure to daylight or the light from normal light bulbs. Some of these ways involve special lamps that emit non-visible ultraviolet light (at least not visible to humans). The light from these ultraviolet lamps reacts with the chemicals of a mineral and causes the mineral to glow; this is called fluorescence. If the mineral continues to glow after the light has been removed, this is called phosphorescence. Some minerals will glow when heated; this is called thermoluminescence. And there are some minerals that will glow when they are stuck or crushed; this is called triboluminescence.
The fluorescent minerals are minerals that emit visible light when activated by invisible ultraviolet light (UV), X-rays and/or electron beams. Certain electrons in the mineral absorb the energy from these sources and jump to a higher energy state. The fluorescent light is emitted when those electrons jump down to a lower energy state and emit a light of their own. Although most collectors do not have access to X-ray or high energy electron emitters, they do have access to affordable ultraviolet lamps. The visible light emitted after being activated by UV light is sometimes very colorful and can often be very different from the normal color of the mineral. Collecting fluorescent minerals is a popular hobby and experienced collectors can use fluorescence for identification purposes. At night or in dark mines or caves, fluorescence can be used to find certain mineral deposits and is a viable prospecting technique.
There are two kinds of ultraviolet light, longwave and shortwave. Longwave UV light is known as "black light" and most people are familiar with its effects of making white clothing glow in the dark. This is due to whitening chemicals in detergents. Remember the slogan "Whiter than white"? See the table of longwave fluorescent minerals.
Shortwave UV light is by definition of a shorter wavelength than the longwave UV light. Shortwave lamps which are available to collectors, can be very entertaining and useful to identify minerals, however it is dangerous to look at the shortwave light source (it can cause blindness) and they should not be used without adult supervision. See the table of shortwave fluorescent minerals. A lamp that can emit longwave and shortwave light is preferred as many fluorescent minerals emit different colors under different wave lengths and some only fluoresce under one but not the other.
Activator elements are responsible for fluorescence. But not all specimens have these activator elements. Care in identifying minerals, using UV fluorescence, should therefore be taken. Some minerals will have consistent colors as in they will always fluoresce red for example while other minerals may have many different colors from one locality to another. Also, one specimen may fluoresce and another specimen of the same mineral may not fluoresce at all. So how can fluorescence help in identifying minerals?
Well, fluorescence is not a common phenomenon being found in only certain minerals. If two minerals are similar and yet one is listed as a possible fluorescent mineral, a fluorescence test could prove important. However if an unknown mineral does not fluoresce, it should not so quickly be dismissed as not being the suspected fluorescing mineral, unless that mineral is reported to always fluoresce. Fluorescence is not usually an absolute property found in all specimens of even a named fluorescent mineral, but there do exist some minerals that are so reliably fluorescent that fluorescence is the best test to use. The tables to the left include the more common fluorescent minerals that are popular with collectors. Compare the minerals found in different wavelengths and in different colors