Blacklight or UV

[musht]

In this case about 120nm.

 

Blacklight Blue is a specific colour , it is a tube or lamp coated in Wood`s Glass, that looks when switched off very dark blue/purple. Often listed as BLB.

 

Switched on output is centered on 379nm, eye sensitivity drops off below 400nm , so can`t see the light but can see things fluorescing because of it.

 

UV tubes are made for all sorts of reasons, aquariums, tanning and germicidal for sterilisation, these have no coating at all and output UV light way doewn below 300nm , no living thing likes UV radiation at this short a wavelength.

 

So always order carefully , your looking for Blacklight not UV , don`t be these chumps:

 

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/10/26/partygoers-left-burns-light-sensitivity-hypebeast-event-landmark/

[Brian]

...no living thing likes UV radiation at this short a wavelength.

 

Oh I don't know, I reckon these guys wouldn't be too bothered...

 

 

 

But on a serious note...Ouch! Having had Arc-Eye many years ago I can confirm that it's very very very not fun to have.

[adam2]

In common parlance, blacklight and UV are terms often used interchangeably.

 

But to be more accurate, blacklight is generally considered to be ultraviolet light only just beyond the visible range, and also that contains almost no visible light.

 

UV, by contrast can mean almost any type of light that is rich in UV. For example UV lamps used for sun tanning purposes also emit a lot of visible light and would be useless for theatre special effects. Another type of UV light source is used to attract flying insects into traps, again useless for special effects. Yet another type of UV light emits a shorter wavelength than blacklight, this is used to kill microorganisms and thereby sterilise water, air or surfaces.

 

Blacklight is primarily for special effects in the entertainment industry and is reasonably safe if used with common sense. Other types of ultraviolet light are used primarily in industry for numerous purposes, many types are dangerous in case of accident or misuse.

 

 

 

 

 

[bigclive]

So always order carefully , your looking for Blacklight not UV , don`t be these chumps:

 

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/10/26/partygoers-left-burns-light-sensitivity-hypebeast-event-landmark/

 

With the increased ease of sourcing all materials online, I see more and more reckless uses of UV-C occurring.

 

A reminder for those who don't know. If you have a UV tube that is clear glass it may be a germicidal UV tube and will cause eye and skin damage.

[paulears]

Clive - might be worthy of a video?

[bigclive]

Clive - might be worthy of a video?

 

You're not the first to suggest that. It's a good idea.

 

Oh dear! A quick look on eBay shows masses of germicidal tubes showing up with keywords that will bring them up if someone searches for a UV tube or lamp.

 

Worse still, some Chinese sellers are presenting them as replacement lamps for insect killers.

[paulears]

Now all we need is a volunteer you can shine them at! Perhaps we should do a reverse election, and vote for the Blue Room member most suitable for a one-way trip to the IoM? It would be like those movies they took of the bloke who poked his screwdriver into a nuclear device to see what happened near criticality, and killed himself and documented how long it took and what happened? You could probably get face, two arms, trunk and two legs - one for each kind of lamp? That would really be interesting!

[gareth]

Far safer to just do it with a bunch of lights with Lee 181 in front of them, no?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gifhttp://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gifhttp://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif

[bigclive]

Now all we need is a volunteer you can shine them at! Perhaps we should do a reverse election, and vote for the Blue Room member most suitable for a one-way trip to the IoM? It would be like those movies they took of the bloke who poked his screwdriver into a nuclear device to see what happened near criticality, and killed himself and documented how long it took and what happened? You could probably get face, two arms, trunk and two legs - one for each kind of lamp? That would really be interesting!

 

 

I've just ordered some of everything. Blacklight, blacklight-blue and germicidal.

 

This is one reason I always have my glasses made of actual glass to guarantee better blocking of UV.

[IRW]

Now all we need is a volunteer you can shine them at! Perhaps we should do a reverse election, and vote for the Blue Room member most suitable for a one-way trip to the IoM? It would be like those movies they took of the bloke who poked his screwdriver into a nuclear device to see what happened near criticality, and killed himself and documented how long it took and what happened? You could probably get face, two arms, trunk and two legs - one for each kind of lamp? That would really be interesting!

 

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif

[paulears]

Anybody really good at makeup? If we'd kept this till April we could have had some real fun.

 

On a more serious note, we've been banging on about the dangers of UV A, B and C every now and again, and the fact Clive has found it fairly simple to source the different types means plonkers or just people trying to build UV theatre stuff on the cheap could easily source the wrong ones - it's a bit worrying isn't it.

[adam2]

The potentially dangerous germicidal lamps are readily available on fleabay and elsewhere. They do have increasingly popular legitimate uses. Mainly killing bacteria in water, either to render the water safer to drink, or to improve the health of fish in aquaria. You can buy a handheld battery operated germicidal lamp intended to sterilise small volumes of water in a cup or glass just prior to consumption. I have one.

 

Years ago, I had the job of replacing large numbers of germicidal lamps in a hospital laundry, they were used not as part of the actual laundry process, but to sterilise the trolleys used to convey the laundry. In the USA d0m3stic tumble dryers used to contain a small germicidal lamp to sterilise the washing whilst drying it.

 

Dangerous legionella bacteria may multiply in cooling towers, one popular control measure is to treat the water by passing it around germicidal lamps. The equipment normally has a tiny spyhole through which one may observe that the lamp is lit.

 

Buffet cars and restaurants on trains used to use an ultraviolet water purifier to treat water used for food preparation, again a small spyhole was provided in order that the lamp could be seen to be lit.

 

 

 

[Caerdydd]

On a strange note after reading this topic, this appeared on my Facebook feed

 

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/10/26/partygoers-left-burns-light-sensitivity-hypebeast-event-landmark/

[sleah]

On a strange note after reading this topic, this appeared on my Facebook feed

 

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/10/26/partygoers-left-burns-light-sensitivity-hypebeast-event-landmark/

 

Erm... that's the link in the OP that started this topic :D

 

I remember back in the 90's we used to use 4ft blacklight all the time as part of disco rigs. Occasionally people would say it hurt their eyes - mainly when there was little other light.

We were of course confident there was no real harm being done - as they were blacklight not UV, so I guess it's just caused by the effect of some objects appearing very bright in an otherwise very dark area, the same as if someone is shining a torch in your face in a dark room.

At least I hope that was it.....

 

I've still got a couple of my old 'thick' blacklight tubes around, brighter than the more modern 'slimline' ones ;)

[alistermorton]

It would be interesting (if a little difficult/impractical, perhaps) to do a spectral analysis of the old tubes.