UV light and Alternative Processes
UV is outside the visible light spectrum. The light we can see ranges from Red through Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. At the extremes we have light that is of interest to photography but which is not visible – Infrared and Ultraviolet A, B and C. It is the UV A and B that concern us in Alternative Processes.
The technical measurement of light is in nanometers, ie 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter. So very small. The UVA band, which is the beach tanning band:
- UVA 315–400 nm
Then UVB which is the skin burning band:
- UVB 280–315 nm
The UVC band doesn’t really concern us as it is usually filtered out by the Earth’s atmosphere but it is the skin cancer band:
- UVC 180–280 nm)
Only very specialised equipment creates light that is accurately in a given UV range.
The SUN
The best specialised source of UV is the Sun. It gives you the UVA/B range in clean parallel rays.
UV Tubes
The best consumer source of UV light is UV fluorescent tubes. But it depends a bit on what UV range they cover.
UV LEDS
The UV LED area is quite complicated. We can source LEDs across the UV spectrum – if you have the money and equipment to to control them.
Black Lights