When Technicians Get Bored....

There's nothing scarier than a bored tech with access to gadgets.....

in the past, I've created small cardboard-box hovercrafts with fans and blowers from dead Macs, i've created a "PanelMac" using the logic board and display of a TiBook, duct tape, antistatic bags and cardboard, and i've jury-rigged an external AirPort antenna to my first-gen AirPort base station to double it's range....

Yesterday, I purchased a "Steri-Pen" UV water purifier, and had been playing with it all evening, disinfecting water just for the heck of it (i need to get a microscope to see the "Before" and "After" results.....), a few minutes ago, I had a brainstorm.....

I have a device that creates intense UV-C light
UV-C can be contained by water, so there's no risk of getting cataracts/sunburned
I have a small collection of Vaseline Glass cups, plates, a vase, and marbles
Vaseline glass glows when exposed to UV light, the more intense the UV, the brighter the glow
..... and I have a device that emits intense UV light.....

Hmm......

I wonder what would happen if I filled one of my Vaseline Glass coffee cups (or the vase, even) with water, then put the SteriPen in the water......

[newsflash] "A small mushroom cloud has appeared in York, Maine, authorities are investigating, we're not sure if this is the work of terrorists, or just a bored tech with too much time on his hands, film at 11 PM, stay tuned for further updates.....[/Newsflash]


Still, I'm tempted to see what could happen, best case scenario, I'll get a brightly glowing Vaseline Glass item, worst case, I'll end up with a "healthy green glow" and probably won't need my flashlights to see in the dark anymore.....

....anyone got a spare Geiger counter i could borrow?

MacTech said:

....anyone got a spare Geiger counter i could borrow?

Click to expand...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Civil-Defense-G...ryZ53154QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
They sell them surplus on ebay quite often, clearing out old civil defense stuff.

MacTech said:

Yesterday, I purchased a "Steri-Pen" UV water purifier, and had been playing with it all evening, disinfecting water just for the heck of it (i need to get a microscope to see the "Before" and "After" results.....), a few minutes ago, I had a brainstorm.....

Click to expand...

A microscope wouldn't help you, as bacteria are too small to see with all but the most advanced microscopes... and certainly impossible to count that way.

You can send me a couple of water samples, I'll do a bacterial count on them. Don't tell me what they are, and let's see if the treated water will be different from untreated.

P.S. Just to ensure there ARE bacteria in the water to measure, spit into a cup of water a couple of times, then mix it thoroughly, then separate into 2 halves - treat one with UV, and don't treat the other.

P.P.S. Oh God - I am designing experiments for fun... I gotta get out of the lab...

true, but the SteriPen also claims to destroy protozoans as well, which are visible under a microscope, i could go down to our 1 acre bass pond, and get a few samples

sample 1, the control group
sample 2, filtered through my MSR MiniWorks
sample 3; sterilized with SteriPen
sample 4; both MSR and SteriPen

see which had the most protozoan reduction

Or just get a steri-pen and do it yourself.

MacTech said:

true, but the SteriPen also claims to destroy protozoans as well, which are visible under a microscope, i could go down to our 1 acre bass pond, and get a few samples

sample 1, the control group
sample 2, filtered through my MSR MiniWorks
sample 3; sterilized with SteriPen
sample 4; both MSR and SteriPen

see which had the most protozoan reduction

Click to expand...

But sterilized =/= filtered.

Even if you kill the protozoa, they will still be visible. Unless you culture it, you have no way of knowing if they've been killed.

If the UV-C is stopped by water, would enough get to the vaseline glass container to make it glow? I see no reason to not try the pen in a Vaseline glass container full of water. If it does not make the glass glow, and (big if) if the Steri-pen can be operated "dry", you could put the pen in an empty vaseline glass container, and submerge that in a larger clear glass container full of water...

Well, it was quite anticlimactic, i filled the vase with water, turned on the SteriPen and immersed it.....

no pretty mushroom cloud, no intense burst of Radiaton, I haven't developed any superpowers, arachnid-based or not, and the Vaseline Glass actually glowed about half as intensely as when illuminated by my 395 Nm UVMag, and the SteriPen is emitting UV-C in the 254 Nm range....

either the water was blocking a good deal of UV from reaching the Uranium Dioxide in the glass, or maybe UD just doesn't flouresce as heavily under shortwave UV

rather dissapointing, actually

so, unless I can find a way to defeat the water sensors on the pen (and wear UV protective eyewear, safety first.... ), I won't be able to verify the reason for the reduced glow from Vaseline Glass