Have you ever been somewhere with black lights and thought "wow, those are cool. I wonder how those work?" Well let me tell you a little bit about Black Lights. Black Lights use Ultraviolet light to create a different effect on what the human eye can see. Ultraviolet light has many uses in todays society. Scientists use it to look at objects the human eye cannot see.
Ultraviolet light has a shorter wavelength than visible light, but it has a longer wavelength than x-rays. Ultraviolet light has many names, but the most common name is UV rays. There are three types of UV rays. UVA, UVB, UVC, each type has a different wavelength and contains a different amount of energy. The sun emits Ultraviolet light in the UVA, UVB, and UVC bands. Although the sun emits a massive amount of UV light, the earth's ozone layers blocks about 98.7% of the light emitted. Ultraviolet light ranges from about 400nm to 10nm, and has a frequency range from about 10E15 to 10E17 Hz.
Ultraviolet light produces much more than just light. It also produces vitamin D, and heat. UV rays also cause cell damage and can damage genetic code. Some folks like to use UV rays in a sense of fashion or good looks. UV rays cause a chemical reaction on the human skin, most people know this by the term; sunburn. UV rays can cause permanent damage to the skin if you have a horrible sunburn or a bad problem with your skin reacting to the UV rays. UV rays can cause skin cancer and many other diseases. In 1877 Ultraviolet light was used a sterilization when they were performing surgery or such events that needed sterilization.
Ultraviolet radiation is a good example of radioactivity and matter behaving in an inconsistent way. It is said to be easier to look at light as a particle of matter, rather than looking at matter being involved with light. Light can be seen as a particle of matter in many different aspects. Light as a Particle is easy to study or experiment with, rather than playing with matter being a part of light.
Ultraviolet light has many uses on and off this planet. In an average persons everyday life they will experience an affect of ultraviolet light, whether it is heat or light or something else in the wide variety of possible uses. Many people do not realize you can see or put UV rays to use in situations everyday.
Citations 1) "Light as a Particle" by Benjamin Crowell
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