Did you have a UV reactive poster in your college dorm? Are you fascinated by images of glowing scorpions, platypuses, and other UV-reactive animals? Do you want to make sure that your kitchen is truly spotless? Then you need a black light flashlight, otherwise known as a UV flashlight! If you’ve never seen black light flashlights before, you might not know what they are– but fear not, we’re here to tell you everything you need to know about this type of flashlight.
What Is a UV Flashlight?
A UV flashlight, also known as a black light flashlight is a portable device that emits ultraviolet light, which is beyond the visible spectrum for humans. Unlike regular flashlights that produce visible light, UV flashlights generate UV-A light, also known as black light, which has longer wavelengths and lower energy. These flashlights are equipped with specialized LEDs or bulbs designed to produce UV radiation, allowing you to illuminate and detect materials that fluoresce under UV exposure.
What Is a Black Light Flashlight Used For?
Black light flashlights have a variety of uses, making them versatile tools for both professional and everyday applications. At home, you can use them to find traces of oil in your kitchen, identify pet stains, and even spot fluorescent insects and invertebrates. If you do resin crafts or have a resin 3D printer, you can use them to cure UV-sensitive adhesives.
They have numerous professional uses, too. Black light flashlights are used to detect counterfeit money and documents. Because legitimate versions use fluorescent ink, it’s an easy way to confirm counterfeit suspicions. This also works for many credit cards and IDs. HVAC techs use them to identify leaks, and health inspectors use them to check cleanliness levels of hotels, restaurants, and other public spaces.
There are many forensic uses of UV flashlights. They reveal blood and other fluids, as well as latent fingerprints, residues, and other trace elements. They’re an essential part of any crime scene investigator’s toolkit.
Also, the art world relies on UV flashlights to authenticate paintings. Paint composition has changed dramatically over the years, and many of the old mineral compounds are no longer available. This means that new paint often has different fluorescent properties than older paint. Repairs, overpainting, and alterations in artworks that are invisible under normal light can often be detected with UV light.
What Can a UV Flashlight Detect?
Ok, so UV flashlights have a lot of cool uses– but what exactly are they detecting? If something glows under a black light, it’s considered a fluorescent material. This means that it can absorb light at one wavelength (aka ultraviolet light) and then re-emit it at a longer wavelength, which is often visible to the human eye. This process is known as fluorescence.
When the UV light from a black light flashlight shines on a fluorescent material, the material absorbs the high-energy UV photons and then emits lower-energy photons in the visible spectrum, causing it to glow or fluoresce. The term comes from the mineral fluorite, which was one of the first materials observed to exhibit this property.
While many minerals are fluorescent, so are numerous biological compounds. Biological traces, like urine, blood, and other bodily fluids have proteins that fluoresce under UV light. Skin oils do, too, which is why you can use black light flashlights to find fingerprints. So do some animals, including scorpions, many insects, and even some mammals, like the platypus!
Some materials are made to be fluorescent artificially. One popular use is in dye that’s used to find leaks in HVAC systems. Cooking oil also fluoresces due to the chlorophyll present in vegetable oils
Are UV Flashlights Dangerous?
If you use them correctly, UV flashlights are not dangerous. Just don’t shine them directly in your eyes or at your skin. Direct exposure to UV light can lead to photokeratitis, which is essentially a sunburn of the cornea. Photokeratitis also leads to an increased risk of cataracts over time. It can also cause skin damage, including sunburn and, with long-term exposure, an increased risk of skin cancer. So just make sure to always point the flashlight away from you and you’ll be fine!
Where Can I Buy a Black Light Flashlight?
You can get a black flight flashlight right here at Engineered Labs! You can also get black light reactive material, such as radium and uranium element cubes. Our UV flashlight is a short-wave UV light, with a 365nm wavelength. It’s perfect for illuminating minerals, insects, oils, bodily fluids, and more! Try it out on random materials around your house and see what fluoresces.
How Much Is A Black Light Flashlight?
Depending on the size and features you want, UV flashlights can range in price from around $6 to over $60. Our black light flashlights are $28, which gets you a lot of premium features that a cheap little $6 light just doesn’t have. In addition to a rechargeable battery with exceptional battery life, we offer a short-wave UV light. More basic black light flashlights tend to be long-wave UV lights, but the higher photon energy levels produced by short-wave UV flashlights creates a glow in as many as 90% of fluorescent minerals.
Why Should I Have A Black Light Flashlight?
Black light flashlights are handy tools to have at home, and they’re also a fun way to get people thinking about science and to encourage curiosity. With a UV flashlight on hand, you can always be ready to check out if random things fluoresce. Who doesn’t like watching something glow?
It’s also a good reminder that we can engage with the scientific principles that define our world at any given moment. Ready access to science tools for off-the-cuff experimentation contributes to a home environment that prizes learning, investigation, and critical thought. When you invest in science tools and experiment kits, you’re not just buying something fun– you’re buying something that instills a life-long love of learning and a deep appreciation for the incredible complexity of the world around us.
Something as simple as a UV flashlight can help a scientific mindset bloom. By encouraging hands-on experimentation and discovery, we create a foundation for future innovators and thinkers who will continue to explore and expand our understanding of science and technology. For more ways to promote that love for science, check out the other tools and experiments we have to offer.
