Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Magic of Ultraviolet





Have you ever gotten a sunburn or at tan from being outside on a sunny day for an extended period of time? If you have then you have experienced Ultraviolet rays first-hand. The Earth's atmosphere protects 98.7% of these harmful rays, but the rays that get through damage human skin.





Ultraviolet is just one of the seven radiations in the electromagnetic spectrum. Ultraviolet Waves frequency range is between 7.5x10^14 and 3x10^16. On the electromagnetic spectrum ultraviolet waves are the third shortest behind x-ray and gamma ray. And the Ultraviolet's wavelength ranges from 10nm to 400nm or about the size of a single molecule.



Ultraviolet waves can come from a couple different places, both natural and artificial. The main source of Ultraviolet waves is the sun. A man-made object where ultraviolet waves are found is in a black light. One of the differences between the sun and a black light is, even though black lights give off Ultraviolet waves, they doesn't burn your skin whereas the Sun will leave you with a burn. This is so because black light are limited to lower amounts of energy.






People around the world have found ways to apply Ultraviolet radiation to technology. A big stride in Ultraviolet technology is air purifiers. Ultraviolet radiation can purify air because a reaction occurs when titanium dioxide and Ultraviolet light exposure absorbs and converts pathogens, pollens and mold spores into harmless byproducts such as clean air.





All waves have a phenomena and this happens when resonance is produced. Resonance is when the the natural frequency and the forced frequency of an object is exactly the same. An Ultraviolet example of this is that many amphibians, fish, reptiles and birds use Ultraviolet radiation to select mate partners or even communicate.





There are many neat things about Ultraviolet radiation, however you must take some precautions while interacting with it. Since it is responsible for all sunburns, it would behoove one to apply sunscreen to any exposed areas of the body before hand. And over exposure and repeated sunburns may affect you later in life with skin cancer.





So there are many interesting facts, dangers and phenomena associated with Ultraviolet technology which makes this an enjoyable subject for people around the world to learn about.
More about the sun's UV rays and how it affects your skin:
Citations:
“The Electromagnetic Spectrum.” NASA. NASA, 27 Mar. 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .

“What are Ultraviolet Waves?” WiseGeek. WiseGeek, Fall 2003-2010. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. .









8 comments:

Kylie(: said...

Good job! It was interesting to hear about the good tht UV light brings vs. the bad. I have always had a bad connotation of ultraviolet light so when you posted about the air purifiers, I was much happier. I also enjoyed your video! It was entertaining and informational

Max9 said...

Cool blog. I think it's great that the black UV light can make pure air by way of a byproduct. And i agree the video was very informative in general about UV light, especially what precautions and safety to take.

casers54 said...

There were a lot of things in here that I didn't know about ultraviolet radiation before. I thought both the information about air purifiers and how animals use it was very interesting.

Laxrox said...

I didn't know that fish used UV rays to find a mate or communicate thats very interesting. I think it's cool that black lights make pure air.

Anonymous said...

I like how you explained about black lights how those give off ultraviolet radiation but with lower amounts of energy. Wouldn't that be really bad if they had as much energy as the sun?? Nice video too by the way!

SmileyFace123 said...

Great blog! I thought it was a little scary how strong UV rays are... especially since the Earth protects us from 98.7% of its rays and only a little gets through and it can still damage our skin. That would be bad if the Earth couldn't protect us from 98.7% UV rays. I liked your pictures and you had a lot of good info! I learned a lot!

livya said...

I would have never guessed that UV radiation helped in the creation of air purifiers! I don't know why, but I found that very interesting. You did a very nice job of relating your scientific information to every day life.

Katherine & Gabi said...

I liked your blog and it was very easy to read. It's very interesting how fish can communicate through UV rays. You mentioned in your blog that black light cannot burn you due to limited amounts of energy. I was wondering, if technology allows us to make a higher energized black light, could someone get a sunburn from it?