What chemicals are found in floresent lamps?

Question

What chemicals are found in floresent lamps?

Answer 1

The light itself initially comes from a discharge in a vapor composed a small amount of mercury mixed with an inert gas like argon.  That light is mostly UV but it hits the phosphor and is converted to visible light.  The phosphors are calcium phosphate mixed with some halogens (fluoride, chloride) and traces of metals (manganese, antimony, terbium, etc).  There is a lot of science involved in getting the right color spectrum out of the combinations of trace metals in the phosphors.  There are other metals in the construction of the lamp such as tungsten, tin, etc.

Answer 2

Depend on what colour is required.

The base is a transition metal compound with a small amount of "exciting" compound.

e.g. for a green tube ---  Zinc silicate with a trace of manganese.

The UV light within the discharge "excites" the coating and it emits a green light.