Phosphorescent or Fluorescent Fluorite Crystals? #crystals

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]So, these fluorite from the El Potosi Mine in Mexico might look kind of boring at first glance, but they have a very cool secret. Now, it's no secret that a lot of fluorite will fluoresce under UV light. However, have you ever seen phosphorescent fluorite before? And more importantly, what is phosphorescence versus fluorescence? Let's go ask Science Sue. So, UV reactivity is when the light hits an atom, the electron stores the energy, and then as it drops back down again, it releases the energy as a visible photon. That same thing happens with phosphorescence, only the effect lasts slightly longer, so you see the effect after the UV light's been removed because the energy is stored for slightly longer.

[00:00:34]You'll have to excuse the terrible video quality here, sorry guys, but what I'm trying to show you is charging up this fluorite with the longwave UV, turning it off, and then that green fade off you're seeing, quite a long fade off, that is the phosphorescence we're trying to demonstrate here. Honestly, it is such a cool light phenomena, and something you don't see very often in the mineral world, you know, a lot of things will show UV reaction, but the phosphorescence is like a whole new level.