A modern parallel to ancient miners seeking luminous gems at nighttime is mineworkers using portable shortwave ultraviolet lamps to locate ores that respond with color-specific fluorescence. For instance, under short-wave UV light, scheelite, a tungsten ore, fluoresces a bright sky-blue, and willemite, a minor ore of zinc, fluoresces green (Ball 1938: 501). The OED defines pyrope (from Greek Πυρωπός, lit. "fire-eyed")" as: "In early use applied vaguely to a red or fiery gem, as ruby or carbuncle; (mineralogy) the Bohemian garnet or fire-garnet"; and carbuncle or carbuncle-stone (from Latin "carbunculus," "small glowing ember") as: "A name variously applied to precious stones of a red or fiery colour; the carbuncles of the ancients (of which Pliny describes twelve varieties) were probably sapphires, spinels or rubies, and garnets; in the Middle Ages and later, besides being a name for the ruby, the term was esp. applied to a mythical gem said to emit a light in the dark." (Ball 1938: 498). Second, there are stories about miners finding luminous gems at night and extracting them by day (Ball 1938: 500–501). One notable exception is Pliny's c. 77 CE Natural History that describes finding carbuncles in the daytime, some kinds "doe glitter and shine of their owne nature: by reason whereof, they are discovered soone wheresoever they lie, by the reverberation of the Sun-beams" (Harvey 1957: 34).

Glow in the Dark Crystal - Etsy UK Glow in the Dark Crystal - Etsy UK

Some fluorite, particularly the variety chlorophane (aka pyroemerald and cobra stone), may become very faintly luminescent simply from the heat of one's hand. Chlorophane is unusual for combining the properties of thermoluminescence, triboluminescence, phosphorescence, and fluorescence; it will emit visible spectrum light when rubbed, or exposed to light or heat, and can continue emitting for a long period of time. Among the gravels of the Irtysh River, near Krasnoyarsk, Russia, the German mineralogist Gustav Rose recorded seeing chlorophane pebbles that shone with brilliancy all night long, merely from exposure to the sun's heat. For luminous gem myths, Ball concludes that while it is "not impossible that the inventors of certain of the [luminous gem] tales may have been acquainted with the luminosity of gems, in my opinion many of the tales must be of other origin" (1938: 497).

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Jordanus, Friar, tr. Henry Yule (1863), Mirabilia Descripta: The Wonders of the East, Hakluyt Society. Siculus, Diodorus, tr. by C.H. Oldfather et al. (1814), The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian in Fifteen Books to which are added the Fragments of Diodorus, Edward Jones. DeWoskin, Kenneth J. and James Irving Crump, trs. (1996), In Search of the Supernatural: The Written Record, Stanford University Press. Some scholars were skeptical about luminous gem stories. In the West, the earliest nonbeliever was the Portuguese traveler to India and gem expert, Garcia de Orta (1563), who, having been told by a jeweler of a luminous carbuncle, doubted its existence. In the East, the first recorded skeptic was the Chinese encyclopedist Song Yingxing, who in 1628 wrote "it is not true that there are pearls emitting light at the hour of the dusk or night." (Ball 1938: 505). Forsyth, Thomas Douglas (1875), Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873, Under Command of Sir T. D. Forsyth: With Historical and Geographical Information Regarding the Possessions of the Ameer of Yarkund, Foreign Department Press.

Glow in the Dark Crystals - Etsy UK Glow in the Dark Crystals - Etsy UK

The size of the particles also matters. Bigger glowing particles hold a charge better than finely ground pigment. So, before you go to all the trouble of coating a plastic glowing star or a glowing glass marble, make sure you’re happy with the color, brightness, and longevity of the glow.

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The Dutch scholar Alardus of Amsterdam (1491–1544) relates the history of a luminous "chrysolampis" (χρυσόλαμπις, "gold-gleaming") gem set on a golden tablet with other valuable gemstones. Around 975, Hildegard, wife of Dirk II, Count of Holland, dedicated the tablet to Saint Adalbert of Egmond and presented it to Egmond Abbey, where the saint's body reposed. Alardus tells us that the "chrysolampis" "shone so brightly that when the monks were called to the chapel in the nighttime, they could read the Hours without any other light," however this brilliant gem was stolen by one of the monks and thrown into the sea (Kunz 1913: 164). Purchas, Samuel (1625), Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, James MacLehose. Laufer, Berthold (1912), Jade, A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion, Field Museum of Natural History Publication 154, 10. Hawkes, David (1985), The Songs of the South: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets, Penguin Books. Hill, John (2015), Through the Jade Gate – China to Rome (A Study of the Silk Routes 1st to 2nd Centuries CE), revised edition, 2 vols., BookSurge.

How to Grow Glow in the Dark Crystals - Science Notes and

Mineralogical luminosity [ edit ] Thermoluminescence from heating chlorophane specimens on a hotplate. Triboluminescence from rubbing together two quartz crystals. Iyer, N. Chidambaram, tr. (1884), The Bṛihat Saṃhitâ of Varaha Mihira, Volumes 1-2, South Indian Press. Scholars have proposed many identifications for myths about luminous gemstones described for over two thousand years. Most frequently rubies or carbuncles (often red garnets), which classical and medieval mineralogists did not differentiate, and less commonly other gems, including diamonds, emeralds, jade, and pearls (Ball 1938: 497). Boil enough water to fill the container so that it covers the glowing base. The more liquid you have over the base, the more room the crystals have to grow. They won’t grow out of the liquid, so plan accordingly. Like Chardin's griffin or eagle, some stories about luminous gems involve animals other than snakes and dragons. An early example is the 3rd-century CE Greek Pseudo-Callisthenes Romance of Alexander that says Alexander the Great once speared a fish, "in whose bowels was found a white stone so brilliant that everyone believed it was a lamp. Alexander set it in gold, and used it as a lamp at night." (Laufer 1915: 58).Sydney H. Ball recounts the widespread variation of the animal-gratitude snake story involving a wild animal (often called carbuncle, Spanish carbunclo, or Latin carbunculo) with a luminous gem on its head, and which Europeans apparently introduced into Africa and America.