Everybody has seen glow-in-the-dark stars on a ceiling somewhere, but it’s different when you can get an entire wall to glow. It’s even better when you get AstroCamp celebrities acting ridiculous in front of it.
Scientifically, this wall glows because of its phosphorescence. This happens as the wall’s atoms absorb the energy they receive when light hits them. In AstroCamp’s case, it is a big flash bulb that sends out this light. This energy excites the electrons around the atom, moving them in new and strange ways. These electrons want to cool down, returning themselves to their more natural orbits around the atom, but they need to get rid of some of their excess energy in order to do so. This is where the glow-in-the-dark part comes in. One way for the atoms to rid themselves of excess energy is to send small, usually green photons off into the wider world. These tiny chunks of light enter our eyes and we’re left staring at glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling or staring at the shadows in front of a glow-in-the-dark wall.
Here are just a few of the fun shots from our fun with our Phosphorescent Wall:
Here is what our Phosphorescent Wall looks like in action: Don’t worry no one was harmed in the making of this video!
