Recently I dug some phosphorescent fluorite crystals, I don’t have a good UV source except for a cheapo LED lamp I bought from China, but I decided to give this a try. There was enough UV that some of the crystals did phosphoresce a blue/greenish color. I’ve never checked out any of my crystals this way so it was awesome to see the illumination continue for well over a minute. I wonder what a more powerful lamp would do?
I am still experimenting with what quality of the stones allows the phosphorescence. At first I thought that only the more gemmy of the crystals I found phosphoresce, but that isn’t true. Some of the most gemmy crystals do not phosphoresce at all!
Man, That sure is some awesome stuff. Every time I check out your website. I’m left in Awe. THX for sharing.
The massive fluorite ridge at the edges for one of the side roads on top of Saint Peter’s Dome near Colorado Springs is said to have thermoluminescence properties. I have collected both purple and green examples but have not yet put them to the heat test. It is possible that your phosphorescent fluorite also has the same property. Depending on the properties of the specimen, thermoluminescence is usually a one shot operation after which it will never glow again. Someone tested some of the famous Blanchard Mine fluorite by throwing it in the campfire but nothing happened.
James, that is interesting. I have noted that only some of the fluorite dug in the same place phosphoresces. I also plan to experiment to see if these have triboluminescence properties too.