phosphorescencen.
/ˌfɒsfəˈrɛsns/, U.S. /ˌfɑsfəˈrɛs(ə)ns/ The emission of light without any perceptible heat; the light so emitted; (Physics) a form of photoluminescence which resembles fluorescence except that it has a longer timescale, so that emission continues after excitation ceases.The phosphorescence observed in the natural world is often bioluminescence or chemiluminescence.An arbitrary minimum duration of 10−8 second is sometimes used in Physics to distinguish phosphorescence from the more rapid fluorescence. The longer timescale of phosphorescence is due to the radiation being emitted by forbidden transitions of excited atoms or molecules, which have a longer lifetime in the excited state than those associated with fluorescence (which involves allowed transitions).
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical properties > [noun] > quality of being phosphorescent
phosphorescence1770
the world > matter > light > light emitted under particular conditions > [noun] > phosphorescence
phosphorescence1770
phosphorism1775
self-luminosity1841
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > intensity of light, luminosity > [noun] > phosphorescence
phosphorescence1770
phosphorism1775
afterglow1879
1770 J. R. Forster tr. P. Kalm Trav. N. Amer. (1770) I. 25 Sometimes this light [in the ocean] had not the appearance of sparks, but looked rather like the phosphorescence of putrid wood.
1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 27 [Internal characters of earths and stones:] Phosphorescence.
1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 627 When two pieces of sugar are rubbed against each other in the dark, a strong phosphorescence is visible.
1844 W. B. Carpenter Animal Physiol. ix. 303 A large proportion of the lower classes of aquatic Animals possess..the power of emitting light... The phosphorescence of the sea..is due to this cause.
1874 tr. E. Lommel Nature of Light (ed. 4) 192 This power of shining in the dark after having been exposed to light is termed phosphorescence.
1917 H. W. Conn Bacteria, Yeasts, & Molds in Home (rev. ed.) x. 152 Fleshy foods, particularly those from salt water, like lobsters or fish, develop a peculiar phosphorescence if kept in an ice chest.
1949 P. Pringsheim Fluorescence & Phosphorescence 5 A photoluminescence process of this type, involving the passage through a metastable level, is called phosphorescence.
1954 C. Zwikker Physical Prop. Solid Materials xiii. 228 Fluorescence is the process in which the radiating electron falls back from the same energy level to which it was raised by the impinging photon..; phosphorescence is that in which the electron, after being raised to a higher energy level, first moves to a metastable level from where it can only be moved by external interference.
1971 Physics Bull. Oct. 577/2 The terms fluorescence and phosphorescence denote allowed and partially forbidden transitions respectively, though the practical distinction based on lifetimes is largely arbitrary.
1992 B. Wood Lost Prince (BNC) 201 He led her along a cold flagged corridor now, where the walls gleamed faintly with phosphorescence.
2001 O. Sacks Uncle Tungsten xx. 251 The ‘uranium rays’, as Becquerel now called them, had nothing to do with fluorescence or phosphorescence as such.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1770