Glow in the dark paint was big in the 1980s. You could get it not only as toys (and boy were there a lot of those) but also as paint, on clothes, watches, jewelry… you name it. One problem though. There was only this one shade of green. Well, two problems because the effect didn’t last long either. You turned off the lights and the effect would last for a few minutes then you had turn the lights back on to ‘charge’ the item again.

Skip a decade or two and the world was introduced to the awesomeness of strontium aluminate. This compound, a white powder, not only glowed brighter and longer but could be spiked with a number of rare earth metals to make it glow in pretty much any color. Unfortunately, it also happens to be quite a bit more costly so it didn’t end up ringing in a new revolution in glow-in-the-dark toys but it is now used extensively all the same. If you’re wealthy, you can even have your driveway paved over with glow in the dark gravel. If not, well at least maybe your fish tank.

This here ampule? Won’t glow at all. Pure strontium metal is exceptionally difficult to get it to stay metallic looking. The high-end glove boxes where it’s prepared may boast of oxygen levels in the parts per billion range, which is all well and good, but the metal is also tarnished by traces of nitrogen and carbon dioxide - two gases which are not chased away with the same gusto as they don’t present a problem for most metals. Of course, “most” being the keyword here… strontium is extremely sensitive to basically anything else. All that being said, the ampules prepared for Luciteria are likely the nicest and most lustrous available commercially anywhere in the world. We’re proud of that :-)