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Here we gathered
up all the UV lamps I had in the house and tested them with the
spectrograph. I did buy some new UV LED's and have not tested
them yet, but I wanted a base reference set of spectra of my
various mineral lamps, scorpion finder flashlights and other
UV sources. Ive more or less lined them up at the same scale,
with a solar spectrum at the top. Here is a list of what each
item is:
>> Solar spectrum - shot at
a sunny sky out the window. The big band on the left is atmospheric
OII, and Cak is on the right side.
>> UVP Battery Mineral short
wave lamp - this is a commercial battery operated tiny uv lamp,
with a floursecsent tube inside for the source. It has a small
2 inch window made of a UV filter to let the UV-C range light
through at around 265nm. Puts out one really bright UV spectral
line, superb for specimens!
>> UVP (Ultra Violet Products)
Plug in mineral lamp - same company as above but this hand held
lamp cranks out more nasty UV than anything I own! Really powers
up those short wave UV specimens in the collection.
>> Scorpion 100 LED flashlight
- primarily 400nm LED's, this baby cranks out so much light that
you see rocks glowing 25 feet away! This is Long wave UV, like
a party black light.
>> Purple LED flashlight -
well, the metal case is actually purple. It has 4 UV leds that
put out quite a bit of visible light in the blue and violet as
well. Not quite as good on long wave specimens.
>> Black UV flashlight with
filter - this is a tiny 6 UV LED flashlight I got at a mineral
show in Tucson a few years back. It has a very dark plastic filter
over the lamps to block the visible purple light and only let
UV out. Unfortunately, not much actually gets out! This is Long
wave.
>> Bare Plug in UVP lamp bulb
- I pulled off the dark UV glass filter and this is what the
bare clear bulb puts out. Appears dimly purple to the eye (briefly)
and is not something you want to stare at for it will sunburn
your eyes. But look at all those spectral lines! Nice double
olive colored set.
>> Same as above but long
exposure to reveal fainter lines.
>> 254nm big battery powered
field unit for prospecting (UVP) - not too impressive output
really. Short wave.
>> 254/400 big battery powered
field unit for prospecting (UVP) - This is the upper half with
the short wave UV output
>> Same but lower half with
Long Wave UV output.
>> White LED flashlight -
standard commercial cheapie, peaks in blue.
>> NEON comparison lamp -
I use this for calibrating the spectra, tons of red and yellow
lines!
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