uv light

[matt_j]

I got inova x5 uv light as a gift. what can I do with that besides staring at my watch which looks really cool /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Matt

 

[Sigman]

Look at your paper money, credit cards, and uggghhhhh your carpet for "bodily fluids"! Check out hotel room bedspreads, look on the walls of your bathroom, get a UV pen and mark things for "security", used with rubber stamps & "invisible ink" to mark folks to ensure they've paid admission...hmmmm what else.

Activate your "glow in the dark" items, check out stamps, certain bugs & rocks/minerals glow, vaseline (sometimes called "uranium" glass) glass (uranium dioxide added for the "greenish" color - really glows under UV)...have I mentioned enough?

After you check out your carpet, bedsheets/bedspreads, & bathroom floor & wall, you may want to get rid of it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I'll bet there are other uses...

 

[CroMAGnet]

Do they kill bacteria and germs??

 

[Sigman]

I imagine someone here knows the answer to that question, not me. I've seen those "blue" lights in operating rooms though and have been told that's what they do, but I'm not sure what wavelength they are using for that application.

I bet Craig (LED Museum) knows!

 

[greenlight]

Why would you want to kill bacteria and germs? With a light? Hire a maid.

 

[Aloft]

[ QUOTE ]
polak187 said:
I got inova x5 uv light as a gift. what can I do with that besides staring at my watch which looks really cool /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Matt

[/ QUOTE ]

Matt. . . there are several products on the market which will flouresce under UV light but are otherwise invisible. Many inks and powders are available, though expensive, or you can mix some RIT Whitener (available at many drugstores) and make your own invisible ink.

It's fun mostly if you have kids, or in my case, someone who acts like a kid!

 

[Frangible]

Yes, UV light is ionizing radiation and can kill bacteria, but only in massive doses that's beyond any of us to produce. The "blue" light you see in ORs, is I believe, to identify bodily fluids.

 

[Doug Owen]

[ QUOTE ]
CromagNet said:
Do they kill bacteria and germs??

[/ QUOTE ]

Not unless you sneak up on 'em and swat 'em with the pointed end.....

The UV that breaks down DNA ('kills germs') is much shorter and very bad for your eyes. Not at all the same as the flashlight.

Doug Owen

 

[CroMAGnet]

hmmm. last weekend jpeg and Gadget were showing off their UV lights and I had an idea. But as usual, I'm no engineer, just very imaginative...

Don't you feel weird every time you pick up the tooth brush in the morning and slap on a bunch of goop and then shove it in your mouth to slosh around all that bacteria and plaque. I saw this infomercial that had a steaming system to sterilize it between brushing. Thought it was a good idea but not enough to paypal 'em.

Anyway, I was wondering if we CFPers could collectively make a simple contraption to blast the business end of a T-brush with a dose of UV-cillin. It sounds like it would be fun to make and then we could get one of those 'The Apprentice' finalists to sell it on an infomercial and we could all retire at the south pole for the winter months and buy every flashlight known to man and shine them around 24/7 !!! Glowing igloo mansions for everyone!!

WhaddaYaSay??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

 

[Doug Owen]

I say it won't work, at least not with LEDs. LEDs are either 'almost UV' or at best UVA. We need UVC, light that never reaches earth. In between is UVB (the stuff that causes sun burn), also not 'doable' with today's LEDs.

To get UVC out you need to start with higher energy photons, like from a mercury arc, and get them through a window that will transmit them (normal glass and plastics won't). Then there's the issue that the stuff is really bad news......it kills cells....even the ones in you and I. It would be very bad karma if the kiddies peaked at the light....

Doug Owen

 

[CroMAGnet]

Hi Doug. I started a new Thread called Germicidal Lights Here.

Sorry about the thread hijak Polak. Loox like you got more than you asked for /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[matt_j]

would the body fluids be detected without using special chemicals?

ex blood wiped clean on the ambulance floor instead of deconed?

 

[elgarak]

Blood does not fluoresce. I shows up as black under blue and higher energies. EDIT: To find traces of blood on a surface that has been washed (without using bleaches and other aggressive chemicals), you'll need chemicals.

For urine/semen/dust no special chemicals are needed(not even for traces). The exception for washing using aggressive chemicals like bleach still applies (the fluorescence of the bleach overlays the one from the bodily fluids).

To kill bacteria: There are surface treatments for tiles and such with nano-particles of TiO2 (Titanium Dioxide, normally just a pigment in tooth paste, paints and a UV absorber in tanning lotions). That's a wide-band-gap semiconductor which *should* be excitable with UV-LEDs, which kills the bacteria sitting *on* those surfaces (basically you produce electrons and holes on the TiO2 surface, which then oxidize/reduce the bacteria in the same way acids and bases do). There's a Japanese professor called Fujishima (sp?) who promotes the stuff. There might be already even paints out there with which you can coat walls, cars etc. with this TiO2 nano-particles.

So while the UV light alone does not kill the bacteria, the combination with the TiO2 might work.

Only problem is that there's 3 years now since I last heard anything new from the TiO2 front. Might have been just a wishful bubble that exploded...

EDIT: I did a literature search, and up until last year there were still some basic research papers published by Fujishima (the spelling's correct). So there's still research going on for this stuff, he just needs a industry partner to make products. Looks legit.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

A longwave UV "blacklight" will not kill germs. Only the shortwave germicidal UV lamps can do this. The shortwave lamps are used in some water purifiers, certain medical devices and EPROM erasers.

Another interesting (and maybe a little gross) thing to do with a black light is to aim it at your teeth in a dark room. You'll see the differences in calcium density of the teeth as they'll flouresce. Any fillings, caps or dental cosmetics will stand out like a sore thumb.

Take the lamp outside at night and look for fluorescent rocks or minerals. You might be surprised. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif