Make every drive on the town as memorable as those beautiful time-lapse post cards with phosphorescent road surfaces. Simply add phosphorus to roads, and even a drive down a dark thruway would not be so lonely.
-- theircompetitor, Jul 11 2004

glow in the dark roads http://www.popsci.c...of-street-lighting-
[theircompetitor, Oct 22 2013]

Wired UK: Glow-in-the-dark roads debut in netherlands http://arstechnica....but-in-netherlands/
[jutta, Apr 13 2014]

ghost road https://techcrunch....ows-a-ghostly-blue/
[theircompetitor, Oct 07 2016]

Apart from the fact that you appear to be confusing fluorescence (shining under ultraviolet light) with phosphorescence (shining), croissant.
-- DrCurry, Jul 11 2004


Ice, bun.
-- skinflaps, Jul 11 2004


Phosphorus was discovered accidentally by someone (I forget who, as usual) heating a mixture of sand and urine (his own). He was hoping to produce gold. Oh well.
-- angel, Jul 11 2004


DrCurry, fixed -- but I must say I thought I heard the term fluorescent used to describe same effect
-- theircompetitor, Jul 11 2004


I'd be damned -- glow in the dark roads
-- theircompetitor, Oct 22 2013


Fluorescence is often misused in every day speech, but it refers specifically to something that immediately emits a different color of light than it receives. Part of the reason it is misused is that the application most in the public awareness is the use of invisible black light to excite a response in the visible spectrum, resulting in an apparent "glow in the dark". (Fluorescent lighting works the same way, as do most "white" LEDs, but people never see the excitation spectrum in either of those cases, only the emission)

Phosphorescence is closely related, but it is a process that is slow to emit the absorbed light. This results in a true "glow in the dark" phenomenon, as the emission continues long after the light source is removed.
-- MechE, Oct 22 2013


ha, thanks, jutta
-- theircompetitor, Apr 13 2014



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