August 2018 Program Information
August 2018 Program
Mike Pabst had a short PowerPoint about fluorescence, with photos of course! Certain materials will only fluoresce under a specific wavelength (depends on electrons and orbital paths). More energy must enter the material than is emitted.He showed us “Pabstite” (a real mineral named for Adolf Pabst in 1964 at Santa Cruz, CA) It had a nice blue fluorescence.
Everyone got to participate in viewing green, orange, pink, blue, etc. colors that were emitted with the UV lamps. Did you know that money, glow sticks, Vaseline glass, and even homemade bread will fluoresce?
Several folks had minerals from Sterling Hill & Franklin, NJ mines – the fluorescent capital of the world. AND we will have a fluorescent mineral display set up at the show! An excellent site to get information, photos, etc about fluorescence is http://www.fluomin.org (Choose English for the language)
Michael Herrick (our “sphere” man) had some intriguing spheres made from colored pencils and some edible geodes made of sugar crystals with chocolate! Michael will be demonstrating his techniques at our upcoming show - not to be missed!
If you were at the meeting, we were amazed at the new, improved portable LW LED fluorescent flashlight that Mike Pabst was using. If you would like the link to purchase one, here is the information. (We are not endorsing or guaranteeing any of these products or vendors. Please do your own research.)
A description and evaluation of the Flashlight:
https://www.naturesrainbows.com/single-post/2017/03/01/365nm-Flashlight-Torch-The-Most-Significant-Innovation-in-UV-Mineral-Lights-in-Years
Two American mineral dealers that supply this flashlight already assembled, with visible light cutoff filter installed, and with battery and charger:
http://www.mineralman.net/id35.html
https://www.midnightminerals.com/product-page/convoy-s2-365nm-nichia-zwb2-filter-lw-led-flashlight-battery-charger
Both dealers charge about $60, which is reasonable (perhaps making $10 profit), because it saves dealing with 3 different Chinese vendors and long shipping times, and it saves having to disassemble the flashlight to install the cutoff filter in place of the clear glass lens, which is a bit tricky.