


It won't work as well as a commercial LED black light, but if you're just looking to show off some cool fluorescent art or mutant-looking plants, it'll definitely do the trick. While no smartphone is technically capable of emitting UV light currently, you can mimic the effect of a black light using your phone's LED flash, a few markers, and some transparent tape. With a black light, you can see fluorescence, the radiating glow emitted by certain substances when exposed to ultraviolet light. Filters that do it create a dim violet glow, while coated bulbs product blue color. Most black lights work using a filter or coating over the bulb that filters out most of the visible light and produces mostly long-wave ultraviolet (UVA) light. They can help you spot fake currency, urine stains, interesting rocks, and deadly scorpions, and they can even help you view cool fluorescent artwork. Vaseline glass is a subset of Uranium glass that has uranium in it, but that is only yellow in color.Black lights come in all shapes and sizes, and they're useful in a variety of ways. If you care about distinguishing the two in your search, Uranium glass is any glass that has uranium in it and can be yellow or green in color.While some Uranium glass has an oily sheen to it, that doesn’t mean that a piece lacking said sheen isn’t real. Don’t be fooled by external appearance or texture.If you’re serious about only collecting Uranium or Vaseline glass, carry a small black light wand with you, since that is the only sure-fire way to see the presence of Uranium.Based on appearance, it’s easy to confuse Uranium glass with Depression glass, but Depression glass does not have any uranium in it, so it doesn’t glow.Whether it’s by going to antique shops or estate sales, or just looking at pictures in art books or online, this is one of the best ways to get started. Acquaint yourself with glassware from the same time period so you can learn to distinguish it.Below, we’ve got a few pointers to keep in mind when you come across pieces you’re not sure about.
BLACK LIGHT FOR URANIUM GLASS HOW TO
If you’re a collector or interested in starting a collection of Uranium glass, it can be hard to know how to start your search, especially when there are so many beautiful glass pieces out there. In reference to Uranium glass’ radioactivity, it should be noted that, while pieces from the late-19th and early-20th centuries were comprised of 2-25% uranium, the level of radioactivity is still negligible in the long run people are exposed to radioactive materials every day and, while we wouldn’t recommend eating or drinking from them, these pieces weren’t actually considered harmful.įrom: Darlene Duplessis: “Vaseline glass salt and pepper shakers.” Collecting While you may be able to recognize some pieces just by looking at them, it takes a UV black light to officially see whether or not the glass flouresces due to the presence of uranium keep in mind, the glass glows green only because of the uranium, not because it’s radioactive. Tinged varying shades of yellow, Vaseline glass can have an oily sheen to it, and is generally, although not always, translucent.

Uranium glass is characterized by the presence of uranium (oxide) and, in some cases, iron oxide, which is what makes it green. From: Raun Lynott: “Part of my “Green Glass” collection which is all Vaseline glass that glows under Blacklight.
