NationStates Jolt Archive

I've heard the phrase black light, but is it possible outside of sci-fi?

I've heard the phrase black light, but is it possible outside of sci-fi?
It means UV lights.

It means UV lights.
Yupp, it's called "Black" Because we can't see it. (well most of it)

Fucking English language. :upyours:

While I came here to scream "UV!" (though probably with a stupid number of exclamation marks) this has got me thinking.

Is black light possible?

I say... yes.

It would have to be a form of EMR that somehow stopped rodopsin from transmitting while still breaking it down... Hmm... maybe not.

I've heard the phrase black light, but is it possible outside of sci-fi?I don't think literal black light is possible outside 3D programs. That said, it's a great trick & I use it regularly. It works by giving a lightsource a negative lumination value. Interestingly, black light can actually cast shadows in the befuddling world of 3D. Very counter-intuitive.

I guess the closest thing to literal black light out in the real world, is the event horizon of a singularity.

The problem with the idea of literal black light is that light is percieved with the pigments in our eyes burning up. We only have three kinds of pigmented cones, red, blue, and yellow I believe (you can look it up yourself).

Wavelengths that burn blue and yellow pigments are seen as green, red and blue as purple etc. If something burns all of the pigments, it's white. If it burns none of them, it's black. UV light is what we're talking about when we say black light, but anything outside the ROYGBIV spectrum is just as "black." Infra-Red, Gamma Rays, X-Rays...

I have light dampening device. It allows me to block photons entering a certain area, thus darkening it.

Some people call it "window blinds". I call it "luminance attenuator."