Ultraviolet

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Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than x-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV. It is so named because the spectrum consists of electromagnetic waves with frequencies higher than those that humans identify as the color violet.

UV light is found in sunlight and is emitted by electric arcs and specialized lights such as black lights. As an ionizing radiation it can cause chemical reactions, and causes many substances to glow or fluoresce. Most people are aware of the effects of UV through the painful condition of sunburn, but the UV spectrum has many other effects, both beneficial and damaging, on human health.

For more information about Ultraviolet, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with ultraviolet light

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Rare earth metal enhances phosphate glass

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Adding cerium oxide to phosphate glass rather than the commonly used silicate glass may make glasses that block ultraviolet light and have increased radiation damage resistance while remaining colorless, ...


New on-off 'switch' triggers and reverses paralysis in animals with a beam of light

New on-off 'switch' triggers and reverses paralysis in animals with a beam of light (w/ Video)

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 4

In an advance with overtones of Star Trek phasers and other sci-fi ray guns, scientists in Canada are reporting development of an internal on-off "switch" that paralyzes animals when exposed to a beam of ultraviolet ...


Fast color-changing material may lead to more powerful computers

Presto! Fast color-changing material may lead to more powerful computers (w/Video)

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Apr 23, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (17) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in Japan are reporting development of a new so-called "photochromic" material that changes color thousands of times faster than conventional materials when exposed to light.


New Laser Technique Advances Nanofabrication Process

New Laser Technique Advances Nanofabrication Process

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Apr 09, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (10) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- The ability to create tiny patterns is essential to the fabrication of computer chips and many other current and potential applications of nanotechnology. Yet, creating ever smaller features, ...


Bright White Light Coaxed from Unexpected Source

Bright White Light Coaxed from Unexpected Source

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 18, 2008 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Duke University and United States Army scientists have found that a cheap and nontoxic sunburn and diaper rash preventative can be made to produce brilliant light best suited to the human ...


Nuclear fusion research key to advancing computer chips

Nuclear fusion research key to advancing computer chips

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 18, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are adapting the same methods used in fusion-energy research to create extremely thin plasma beams for a new class of "nanolithography" required to make future computer chips.


Thin-film 'nanostructure' deposits

New nanostructure technology provides advances in eyeglass, solar energy performance

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 16, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Chemical engineers at Oregon State University have invented a new technology to deposit "nanostructure films" on various surfaces, which may first find use as coatings for eyeglasses that ...


Massive Stars Near the Galactic Center

Massive Stars Near the Galactic Center

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 28, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (14) | comments 7

The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of our galaxy is a giant complex of molecular gas and dust situated in the innermost 700 light-years of the Milky Way. Although the galaxy is over 100,000 light-years in size, ...


Bananas Gone Bad Glow Blue in UV-Light

Bananas Gone Bad Glow Blue in UV-Light

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Sep 09, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nicholas Turro of Columbia University, Bernhard Krautler of the University of Innsbruck, Austria and their colleagues have found that, as chlorophyll ages and begins to disintegrate in banana ...


Toward a nanomedicine for brain cancer

Toward a nanomedicine for brain cancer

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Sep 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

In an advance toward better treatments for the most serious form of brain cancer, scientists in Illinois are reporting development of the first nanoparticles that seek out and destroy brain cancer cells without ...


Titan

Scientists unravel the chemistry of Titan's hazy atmosphere

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 15, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

A team of University of Hawai'i at Mānoa researchers led by Ralf Kaiser, physical chemist at UH Mānoa, unraveled the chemical evolution of the orange-brownish colored atmosphere of Saturn's moon ...


Scientists discovers 'firework' display in Helix Nebula

Scientists discovers 'firework' display in Helix Nebula

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jul 20, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- A star does not die without getting noticed and may even leave the universe with "fireworks." At the end of its life cycle, a star begins to collapse in the middle and throws new material ...


Scientists Shed 'Light' on Semiconductor Quandry

Scientists Shed 'Light' on Semiconductor Quandry

Technology / Semiconductors

created Jul 14, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- UC San Diego scientists are using laser plasma-produced light sources to explore performance improvements of critical inspection tools for the semiconductor industry, which ultimately will ...


Light-activated 'lock' can control blood clotting, drug delivery

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists have shed new light -- literally -- on a possible way to starve cancer tumors or prevent side effects from a wide range of drugs.


DNA molecules can detect pathogens, deliver drugs

DNA molecules can detect pathogens, deliver drugs

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created May 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- First, Cornell researchers created DNA "bar codes" -- strands of the genetic material that quickly identify the presence of different molecules by fluorescing. Now, they have created new DNA ...