Students at Spring Arbor University synthesized the fluorescent crystals on this month's cover in undergraduate chemistry laboratories. The crystals are described in "Triboluminescent Crystals from the Microwave Oven" by Bruce W. Baldwin and David M. Wilhite. The images were obtained with a digital camera and a dissecting microscope. When viewed under visible light, the crystals were colorless, but when irradiated with ultraviolet light (360 nm), the crystals glowed a ghostly green or purple color. The source of the fluorescence is not known.
The cover was designed by Betsy True.
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