Make a UV Black Light at Home

In this instructable , I'll show you how to make a UV black light at home in just a few minutes.

All you'll need is a light source and some colored cellophane gift wrap. We'll get into details as we go along.

Step 1: Watch the Video!

Watching a video seems to be the way the cool people learn things on the internet. If you're old-school, you can enjoy reading the instructions that follow!

If you can't see the video above, find it on my channel here - http://bit.ly/1ODLIwG

Step 2: Choose a Light Source

The first step is to choose a light source. I had three light sources available which were a smartphone, a small LED flashlight and a LED video light.

I ended up choosing the LED flashlight as most people watching/reading this instructable would have one at home.

Step 3: Cellophane!

Next, you'll need to cut up pieces of cellophane gift wrap just big enough to cover your light source. You will need two purple pieces and one blue piece.

If you don't want to spend too much money, you can use translucent blue and purple candy wrappers..

Step 4:

Cover the light source with the cellophane, layering them over and securing them with some tape or a rubber band (unless you want to hold the cellophane). The order in which you layer the colors does not matter. I layered it as - purple, purple, blue and it turned out great!

Step 5: Test!

Next, you'll want to test your DIY UV blacklight. I used a bit of flourescein which I extracted from a yellow highlighter pen. All i did was dip the highlighter in some rubbing alcohol and ended up with more flourescein solution than I needed. The results using this solution were incredible! You will need to watch the video to see the full effect so click on the video below if you haven't watched it yet.

If you liked this instructable, leave a comment!

Comments

[Geethesh Prabhu]

good

[hicks.kay]

cool

[Courageec]

Nice one

[indra1]

How does a simple light change into UVC light

[BakerBoy7]

the UV light is always there. The cellophane just filters out the other wavelengths so mostly UV is left.

[indra1]

Where does the cellophane cover is sold

[Wannabe builder]

Great project. I might find this stuff in my old school house. Love Maciver kind of stuff. Yellow highlighter? Yup. Tried to explain drawbacks for students highlighting their notes...
Thanks.

[Moongoddess4444]

Where do you get the cellophane wrap from? I need to do this for a science fair so I would really appreciate if you could get back to me as soon as you can.

[LabRatMatt]

Interesting idea, but I doubt the cellophane would completely isolate the UV light. This is a great project for basic demonstrations, but probably not ideal for more sophisticated light experiments. Nevertheless, cool project!

[SHOE0007]

Very cool project!