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View an animation of how certain chemicals fluoresce—that is, emit visible light after having absorbed higher-energy light, such as ultraviolet radiation.

Findings

Additional insights we found via StarCellBio Animations

  1. When exposed to light such as UV radiation, the electrons in fluorophores jump to a higher energy level, but some of the absorbed energy is lost as thermal energy to the environment when the molecule vibrates.

  2. With the electron possessing less energy after a few nanoseconds of molecular vibration, it releases a lower-energy photon of light, which will have a different wavelength and frequency, and therefore color, than the photon that was absorbed.

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