X-Nico

unusual facts about ultraviolet light



Irritation

Irritants are typically thought of as chemical agents (for example phenol and capsaicin) but mechanical, thermal (heat), and radiative stimuli (for example ultraviolet light or ionising radiations) can also be irritants.

Prescription bottle

Prescription bottles come in several different colors, the most common of which being orange or light brown due to its ability to prevent ultraviolet light from degrading the potentially photosensitive contents through photochemical reactions, while still letting enough visible light through for the contents to be easily visible.

Triboluminescence

Wint-O-Green Life Savers work especially well for creating such sparks, because wintergreen oil (methyl salicylate) is fluorescent and converts ultraviolet light into blue light.


see also

Corrosion

Mechanisms which break polymer chains are familiar to biologists because of their effect on DNA: ionizing radiation (most commonly ultraviolet light), free radicals, and oxidizers such as oxygen, ozone, and chlorine.

Ergosterol

It was also not as common as the earlier Steenbock process, in which milk was exposed directly to ultraviolet light, which converts milk's natural 7-dehydrocholesterol content to vitamin D3.

Phytophotodermatitis

The skin condition is a cutaneous phototoxic inflammatory eruption resulting from contact with light-sensitizing botanical substances—particularly from the plant families Umbelliferae, Rutaceae, Moraceae, and Leguminosae—and ultraviolet light, typically from sun exposure.

Southern Rhodesian general election, 1980

Voters had their fingers marked with an invisible ink that showed up under Ultraviolet light to detect attempts to vote twice.

Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation

The concept is based on the ability of ultraviolet light to kill infectious agents by disrupting their DNA.