What makes things glow in the dark? toys, paint etc?

Glow in the dark products contain phosphors, a phosphor is a substance that emits light after having been energized, be it with a normal light, an electron beam, UV light or some other source. A very common phosphor is in a TV screen or monitor and to energize it an electron beam is 'fired' at the phoshor and energizes it - making it glow.

The glow in the dark that we are most concerned with is one that is charged, or energized, by normal light. These phosphors are used in glow in the dark paint, toys and signs to name just a few. There are 2 main phosphors that are used in these applications, Zinc Sulfide which doesn't glow for very long after removing the light source and isn't very bright it is, however, very cheap and is still used in very low cost products. The other is Strontium Aluminate, this is a newer technology and the one that is used mostly today, it's characteristics are much better for our purpose, it glows up to 10 times longer and 10 times brighter than Zinc Sulfide but is also considerably more expensive.

Electrons in the phosphor are energized by light and this makes them excited, this extra eneregy is lost from the electrons in the form of light and this makes them glow.

To make a plastic glow in the dark toy all that happens is the phosphor, whichever you are using, is mixed into the plastic, like a pigment is, the same goes for paint.