ABYMC

[Spacebot]

Just a random question, does anyone know if anything cool happens if you expose oil to UV rays. Does it break down or something?

On a similar note, does anyone know of a really powerful artificial source of UV rays? The only think that comes to mind when i think of UV is a blacklight.

[T3sl4]

How UV you thinking?

Oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons and surfactants and other things. Whether UV of any grade will do anything depends on having reactive molecules. Pure paraffins (like candle wax, but since we're talking oil, the molecules are shorter) won't do anything, because they are very simple and very stable molecules. On the other hand, oil contains a lot more than that; if it contains free double bonds, those bonds might be broken by the UV, which could allow other molecules to join (the broken bond is called a radical, so this is called radical substitution). If it doesn't link up with something else, it might close internally, resulting in fragments of the starting molecule. And then there are the intentionally special components: things like surfactants and modifiers, they may have reactive groups that don't respond well to UV. Being a smaller fraction of the oil, but a large fraction of the oil's quality, a little degredation in these ingredients could have a big effect on the oil's characteristics.

And what doesn't break from UV might fluoresce. So you might get a blue or green glow as well.

Sterilization lamps, which are unfiltered (quartz glass) mercury lamps, put out a lot of power at 254nm. Do not use them without protection, it's the kind of UV that causes burns instead of tans and will give you cancer.

Tim
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[Spacebot]

Aren't those 'green' flourescent light bulbs just mercury-vapor bulbs with UV shielding on them?