Originally Posted by scottsjeeprolet

so how did all this Mercury get here from the planet Mercury? Aliens?

Originally Posted by Diesel Powered Rocket

When you turn the lamp on, the current flows through the electrical circuit to the electrodes. There is a considerable voltage across the electrodes, so electrons will migrate through the gas from one end of the tube to the other. This energy changes some of the mercury in the tube from a liquid to a gas. As electrons and charged atoms move through the tube, some of them will collide with the gaseous mercury atoms. These collisions excite the atoms, bumping electrons up to higher energy levels. When the electrons return to their original energy level, they release light photons.

The wavelength of a photon is determined by the particular electron arrangement in the atom. The electrons in mercury atoms are arranged in such a way that they mostly release light photons in the ultraviolet wavelength range. Our eyes don't register ultraviolet photons, so this sort of light needs to be converted into visible light to illuminate the lamp.

This is where the tube's phosphor powder coating comes in. Phosphors are substances that give off light when they are exposed to light. When a photon hits a phosphor atom, one of the phosphor's electrons jumps to a higher energy level and the atom heats up. When the electron falls back to its normal level, it releases energy in the form of another photon. This photon has less energy than the original photon, because some energy was lost as heat. In a fluorescent lamp, the emitted light is in the visible spectrum -- the phosphor gives off white light we can see. Manufacturers can vary the color of the light by using different combinations of phosphors.

If the white Phosphors are removed from inside the tube, the lamp will light the phosphors outside of the tube which is what you call a Black Light.

I hope you like the more in depth explaination......I believe you would need allot more gas then what is inside of that little spiral bulb before it could possibly suffocate you.
On the other hand, the vaporized mercury is of some concern but it would take years of repeated exposure to hurt you. Use caution to clean up any areas before youngsters play in the vicinity.

Originally Posted by CumminsCrazed

how do you know all this info rocket.....are you like a mercury biologist? LOL!

Originally Posted by dozerboy

You have little to worry about when my mom was little her dad use to bring home pill bottles full of mercury for the kid to play with. She is ok for the most part.

Originally Posted by Jazz

It's the offspring that it effects
So be careful if you ever have kids CC