Flourescents, wow!
3 messages in this thread
The UV lamp I had on order arrived yesterday afternoon. It's the tiny one that
runs on 4 AA batteries with the slider window for sw/lw. Jane says we have to
hurry up and mail it to our mother in law before I wear it out or break it (g).
This is great fun!
Found a number of bright green and orange flourescents in the flower beds (all
agate and jasper I believe). One piece of moderately bright purple that appears
to be mica from the boxes of miscellaneous material in the garage.
Just had to send a note that it sure is fun to use this lamp.
Doug, no wonder you're into flourescents!
BTW, this is model UVSL-14P and cost $49.95 plus shipping through Greigers and
was mfg by UVP Inc in San Gabriel, Ca. so they are still in business after the
equake.
-Russ (blinded by the light…)
Hi, Russ–
Green-fluorescing agate is common, but I have seen no orange-fluorescent agate
(one orange-fluor. quartz crystal, which is uncommon). Are those local
specimens, or did they come to your flower bed from far away?
Purple fluorescences are always suspect, as they are likely to be a reflection
of the purple light a UV lamp puts out (perfect filters are not practical if
they exist at all). Does it change a lot when the specimen is rotated under
the lamp? If it vanishes when a piece of ordinary glass is held between
shortwave lamp and specimen, it is a real shortwave fluorescence.
Unfortunately, it is not so easy to rule in or out a longwave purple
fluorescence.
I hope "blinded by the light" does not mean you have been looking into the UV
lamp – at least I figure if you "sun"burned your eyeballs, you would not be
delaying in sending the lamp to your mother-in-law.
–Doug
Doug
The lamp is on it's way to Vegas tomorrow afternoon and I won't be able to
check the orange and orange/green multi. I guess this shows how much a novice I
am at this. I looked at them and put them back in the flower bed without
looking with regular light to see what they were. What I can say for sure is
that everything in this flower bed came from the local So Calif desert…Field
Road, Lavic Siding, Hector Hills, and one other site for the most part. It's
all jasper and agate.
And nope I didn't blind myself staring at the light (smile) just a figure of
speach trying to express the thrill of finding some nice pieces.
I am taking the purple flour along to Vegas, so I'll test it there. I hadn't
thought of a reflection making it look like it flouresces.
-Russ