> >Dear members
>> > Moreover UV does not pass through any OPAQUE material, least of all
> >plastic. Water also absorbs UV, as does glass. Quartz is transparent to UV.
> > Please comment on this
> >jakku
>> I beg to take exception to this - some recent experiments I have
> conducted on samples of common gallon sized plastic milk containers
> have found them to be highly transmissive of UVC rays (and of course
> UVA and UVB as well), even though they are translucent, rather than
> transparent. They may, in fact, be considerably more transparent than
> many forms of glass.
> --Rog
Actually, many plastics found in labs are UV transparent. If you work with
DNA, take your stained gel with you and place the plastic between it and
the UV box. I had a heck of a time looking for UV opaque clear plastic. As
for opaque plastics, if light can't pass through, UV can't
As for water, eventually water will absorb UV, but as any diver will tell
you, the first colors to be lost are the reds. If you dive down 100' and
look at someelses teeth you can see the flouride flourescence (pink
teeth).
--
-Rich
rfriedma at fhcrc.org
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