Well, these devices often use their short-wave UV energy to kill/inactivate airborne pathogens like:Īs mentioned above, UVCs inactivate microorganisms by altering or damaging their DNA this is exactly what air purifiers do.
Their primary objective is to reduce the spread and growth of indoor pollutants. Yes, UV-C purifiers do work in fact, very effectively. UV radiation has been in use as a water, surface, and air disinfectant for decades now.Įven with LED UVCs being relatively new, traditional germicidal lights look more like fluorescents and incandescent lamps.īasically, this means that this method of purification isn’t new. Here are a few things you should know about these air sterilizers… UVC applications are many one of them being in air purifiers. The human eye lens (cornea) blocks shorter wavelengths like the ones in UVC lights… That’s why you can use a prism to split white light into several different colors just like in a rainbow.įrom the above, we know that visible light ranges from 380nm to 760nm in wavelength, right?Īnd that’s why UVC lights are invisible due to their 180nm to 280nm wavelength range. Visible light from EM radiation often has a wavelength ranging from 380nm to 760nm (or 400 to 790 THz).ĭid you know that white light is often a combination of different wavelengths within the visible light range? Well, it all boils down to the wavelength. However, you should note that the sun (natural light) often has more infrared than visible light in fact, the part of the EM spectrum that we can see is often a very tiny portion of the entire spectrum.īack to the main question is UVC visible? And if not, why? People often ask this nest question a lot too…Īccording to Wikipedia, visible light is just a region on the Electromagnetic Spectrum where our eyes are more sensitive to. So, when that happens, the cells’ reproduction becomes inhibited, hence, stopping the spread or growth of that microorganism.Īnd that’s why these lamps are often regarded as efficient and effective germ killers.Ī germicidal UV lamp is always most effective at ~254nm that means that a UVC LED 265 nm can give you amazing and fast results. When you expose a microorganism to UVC lamps, the light will penetrate through their cell wall and alters/disrupts the cell’s DNA.Īn organism’s DNA is like a map if you mess it up, the organism loses its sense of direction and won’t be able to move forward.ĭNA is like a blueprint a little alteration can greatly affect the intended structure and cause a collapse in the entire cell. The process of using UV-C light to kill germs is often referred to as UVGI or Germicidal Irradiation. Well, that brings us to the next part of this post… This subtype has a wavelength range of 180nm to 280nm. However, there are artificial sources that are used by people for several purposes. UVC from the sun is often completely absorbed by the atmosphere/Ozone layer. Ultraviolet C ( UVC) commonly referred to as germicidal or short-wave UV.Ultraviolet B ( UVB) also known as medium-wave or middle UVand has a wavelength of between 280nm and 315nm.It doesn’t get absorbed by the Ozone Layer. Ultraviolet A ( UVA) also called Near UVdue to its close resemblance to natural light and has a wavelength of between 315nm and 400nm.With that in mind, you should note that UV radiation can be further split into sub-types out of which, these three stand out: And wavelengths ranging between 400nm and 10nm.Frequencies ranging between 750THz and 30 PHz.We’ll begin with the fact that the UV region of the EM spectrum falls just between “Visible Light and X-ray” regions. Since our main focus is on UV light, that’s where we’ll focus more on. The EM Spectrum is divided into regions as the wavelength decreases or energy/frequency increases.Īnd from these divisions, we get things like: Well, naturally, it comes from the sun and is transmitted in the form of particles at different frequencies and wavelengths (Electro-Magnetic (EM) Spectrum). So, what’s so special about UV radiation?
Therefore, it’s not always recommended to spend a lot of time under these types of lights
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