Things that Excite Electrons

1. Things that Excite Electrons • Heat • Light • Electricity • Chemical Reactions • Nuclear Decay

2. Heat examples: Things that Excite Electrons Flame Lab Methanol Demonstration LiCl Wood Fire SrCl2 CuCl2 KCl NaCl

4. Heat examples: Things that Excite Electrons Flame Lab Methanol Demonstration Fire Fire Works

5. Heat examples: Things that Excite Electrons Flame Lab Methanol Demonstration Fire Works Fire Things that are “Red Hot” Dude, that’s hot.

6. Light examples: Things that Excite Electrons Fluorescence - A photon creates a very brief excited state (10-9 to 10-6 seconds) then when the electron returns to the ground state a different type of photon is released. Fabric brighteners and how they work Black lights and posters Phosphorescence - A photon creates longer excited state (10-3 to several minutes). Glowing Bones and other glow things

7. Fluorescence: Photographed with a black light

8. South Korean scientists tinkering with fluorescence protein genes say they have bred white Turkish Angora cats to glow red under ultraviolet light. Fluorescence: Photographed with a black light

9. Phosphorescence

10. Electricity examples: Things that Excite Electrons Lightning Arc from an electrical shock Emission tubes Fluorescent light bulbs Neon lights

12. Chaiten volcano in Chile in May 2008

15. Giant Van de Graaff Mario Tesla Arc Attack

19. Chemical Reaction (Chemiluminescence) examples: Things that Excite Electrons Glow sticks / necklace “Bioluminescence”

24. Bioluminescence When living organisms can do chemiluminescence

28. Glow Worm Cave

34. Waves Link Movie Link

35. Nuclear Reaction examples: Things that Excite Electrons Radioactive Decay

36. Radium mixed with copper-doped zinc sulfide produces a paint that will glow in the dark. The radiation from the decaying radium excites electrons in the doped zinc sulfide to a higher energy level. When the electrons returned to the lower energy level, a visible photon was emitted.

37. Actinium is a silvery radioactive element that glows pale blue in the dark.

38. This is a photo of uranium glass, which is a glass to which uranium was added as a colorant. Uranium glass fluoresces bright green under a black or ultraviolet light.

39. The night sights on some guns and other weapons use radioactive tritium-based paint. The electrons emitted as the tritium decays interact with the phospor paint, producing a bright greenish light.

40. Nuclear reactors display a characteristic blue glow because of Cherenkov radiation, which is a type of electromagnetic radiation that is emitted when a charged particle moves through a dielectric medium faster than the phase velocity of light. The molecules of the medium are polarized, emitting radiation as they return to their ground state.

42. Spent fuel rods in a holding pool.

43. Things that Excite Electrons • Heat • Light • Electricity • Chemical Reactions • Nuclear Decay