Interesting and Fun Facts About Black Lights and How They Can Be Used
The chances are that if you own a black light, you’ve been using it to either illuminate your velvet Grateful Dead poster or keep your pet reptiles warm at night. However, black lights are much more practical than you may have imagined. You can use a black light to clean your home, appraise art, or even control pests.
Solve Crimes
Most of our bodily fluids contain phosphors and will glow or fluoresce under a black light. Forensic scientists use black lights to help them spot body fluids and fingerprints at crime scenes. Even if a criminal has made an effort to clean up after himself and has scrubbed a crime scene with cleaners and bleach, trace elements of body fluids will glow under black lights. Thus, if a violent crime was committed in a room that was later immaculately cleaned and turned a black light on, you should still see all the places where blood once splashed or pooled.
If you are not investigating any violent crimes, you can also use a black light to determine where your dog peed on your carpet and determine whether the carpet is clean.
Detect Forgeries
The United States and several other countries design their money with invisible fluorescent strips that glow under black lights. So if you put an actual dollar bill under a black light, you should be able to spot a bright stripe.
Art historians, conservationists and antique dealers also use black lights to detect forgeries. For example, most new paints have phosphors, but old paints don’t. So if you suspect your masterpiece is a fake, take a look at it under a black light. If it glows, it’s not old.
Nowadays, antique and gem dealers mark their products with invisible blacklight pens. So if someone makes a purchase and then tries to return a forgery for a cash refund, the dealer can immediately identify whether he’s looking at his original or a fake.
Spot Scorpions
If you live in a desert, are serving overseas, or are just particularly anxious about arachnids, you can use a black light to spot scorpions in the dark.
Scorpions, who as a species are known for being particularly sneaky and hiding in undesirable locations such as inside boots, have phosphors in their shells and will light up under ultraviolet light. Therefore, you can identify and remove unwanted scorpions from your home before getting stung by flashing a black light in dark places.
Though they are primarily associated with teenage interior decorating, black lights have many practical uses. You can pick up a black light at any home and garden store if you want to help deep clean your carpet or value your artwork. Even if you aren’t a detective or an antique dealer, black lights can be fun.
Want More Fun with Lights?
Okay, so you may not be shining a black light on the exterior of your home or business during the winter holiday Christmas season. But, you still want to light it up.
By contacting A Brilliant Solution Holiday Lighting we can go way beyond and make your property “shine bright like a diamond” or whatever you desire.
So, let us light up your home or commercial property this next season and all to follow. We assure you that you will be nothing short of amazed. So, what are you waiting for? It’s never too early to get on our Christmas Holiday Lighting list. Contact A Brilliant Solution Holiday Lighting today.
