Re: TV phosphors
hope this helps you out .
The coating on the inside of TV (and other) CRT's is called a "phosphor". It gets its name from the same (greek?) root as the element "phosphorus", which means "light bringer", IIRC.
The phosphor coating inside a CRT consists of compounds that give off visible light when hit by a high-velocity beam of electrons. They are generally made from exotic rare-earth materials like yttrium and lanthanum, as well as more common things like lead silicate, lead sulphide, and barium carbonate, depending on the color of light desired. Color CRT screens actually consist of a matrix of dots or stripes of 3 different phosphors, emitting red, green, and blue light. But they DO NOT contain phosphorus, AFAIK. They are, however, highly toxic substances, and are contained inside a high-vacuum glass envelope that can send sharp glass fragments flying into your face when it implodes. The tubes also can retain a high voltage charge which will give you a healthy shock unless properly discharged. Not a device worth playing around with unless you know what you are doing.
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