The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea. Head to https://brilliant.org/veritasium to start your free 30-da...

The blue LED was supposed to be impossible—until a young engineer proposed a moonshot idea.

  • Flying SquidEnglish
    52•5 months ago

    Maybe making X-ray emitters cheap enough to put in a flashlight isn’t the best idea anyway.

    • JATthEnglish
      30•5 months ago

      Maybe not in a flashlight, but the scientific industry would be very pleased with them. Sterilize water and all surfaces in a second? Flash with 200nm light.

      • @[email protected]English
        1•5 months ago

        What’s wrong with the current UV tubes? Sure, the smaller ones take about 5-10 W to get the job done, so maybe an LED version would be more efficient. If you’re using UV to keep a massive pool clean, then you’re obviously going to be need more of those bulbs, and they can add up to hundreds of watts quite easily. Is that really a big problem though? Having a pool isn’t cheap, so electricity spent on UV probably isn’t going to be your main concern. Making it cheaper is always welcome, but are UV tubes really that big of a problem?

        • @[email protected]English
          2•5 months ago

          I mean they aren’t instant and have to be within a fairly short distance of the thing you want to sterilize in order to work because they are absorbed by the air. Something like a pool would be practically impossible as water also absorbs UV and a pool is too big to penetrate all the way through just from the sides or bottom. It only works for drinking water because you pass said water through a tube that must be fairly narrow.

          Oh yeah and an X-ray could sterilize all the way through an object, not just the surface. Very useful for making things like microwave meals.

        • SatansMaggotyCumFartEnglish
          11•5 months ago

          X-rays use invisible electromagnetic energy beams to produce images of internal tissues, bones, and organs on film or digital media.

          Good advice, but I put a Kleenex in my urethra for safekeeping and I’d love to track it down to get it out again.

          • southsamuraiEnglish
            7•5 months ago

            Amateur. It’s in the scrotum along with all the pee.

          • @ikapozEnglish
            6•5 months ago

            Next time you have to fart just squeeze your butt cheeks together real hard. It’ll pop right out.