[N.L.]

Hello,

I am an industrial designer working on a project and it would be great if someone was willing to answer a few questions! Thank you:

I designed a glass rod that needs to capture daylight and glow at night. I thought of asking the glass caster to add phosphor powder to the glass as he is casting it.

Would that make the rod glow? 
Can I use straight powder or would I need to mix the phosphor with another fluid before adding it to the glass?
Is there another substance I should use instead of phosphor?

Thanks again,
Nicolas Lehotzky

[Arkcon]

You can try it and see.  But fluorescent and phosphorescent substances may fail to do so, when suspended in a matrix, especially glass.  You might have better luck with polymethylmethacrylate (Lucite or Plexiglass, are common trademarked names.)

[N.L.]

Thanks for the input. I suppose I will try that in different concentrations. I was looking into glass because it is a much cheaper material to manufacture than plexiglass.

[Arkcon]

Yeah.  Or you could just buy them: 

http://www.chemistry.nmsu.edu/Instrumentation/Fluorescence_Stds.html