Does UV lights kill viruses?

Are you the one who is most concerned about disinfecting the house? You must have looked around for a solution to this problem and we are sure of the fact that you must have struggled to find a solution for it too. You no more have to struggle to find the disinfectant because after reading this article you will get to know about the allure of UV wand disinfectants. Several studies have shown that UV lighting has proved to be one of the vital resources when it comes to killing viruses and bacteria. It claims to kill 99.9% of germs, viruses, and bacteria and ensure your safety. With several other benefits such as portability and efficiency, you would certainly want to make UV lights a part of your house. Here are some other interesting things that you should know before you go for buying it.

uva lights

A brief intro to UV Lighting?

Before we move ahead, we need to ensure that all our readers are on the same page and that is the reason due to which we will be highlighting upon this term. UV stands for ultraviolet and when we say UV lighting then we mean a band of electromagnetic radiation at high energies and brief wavelengths as compared to the normal light. This quality makes it invisible to the human eye as stated by the International Ultraviolet Association.

It is divided into four major categories based on their wavelengths

  • UVA
  • UVB
  • UVC
  • Vacuum-UV

Talking about the first one UVA is the longest in terms of wavelength. They have a wavelength between 400-315 nanometers. What we see as backlights are UVA lights. There are a few lights that fall into the violet spectrum due to which people usually use purple color to view it. Whereas if we highlight upon vacuum-UV, it has the smallest wavelengths that fall between 100 and 200 nanometers.

We won’t go into many technical details because we just don’t want to put off the readers who are not interested in it. For others who want to know about much more technical details can google these terms and learn more about them. Moving ahead we know that these techniques are being used all over the world to ensure that people are kept safe from germs bacteria and viruses. You must have witnessed that airline companies, businesses, hotels, and hospitals use it to ensure the safety of people. As stated above it has proved to be one of the most effective tools that help to kill viruses that are even missed out by the chemicals. UVC lights range between 280 and 200 nanometers. It is one reason due to which they have proved to be so effective against viruses. 

Are UV Lights effective enough to kill the coronavirus? If yes then how?

We are almost 5months into the pandemic, without a vaccine until now thus everyone is looking for a way to keep themselves and their families safe from this virus. Ultraviolet lights have been used for decades to ensure the safety of our house but now the question is whether it is effective enough to ensure that it can keep us safe from the deadly coronavirus. 

No study confirms that it is an effective tool that could help you protect yourself and your loved ones from COVID-19. However, numerous other studies prove the fact that it can kill other viruses such as influenza and other seasonal coronaviruses.

Here the question arises is that what gives it the power to kill a virus? Most of our readers must also be wondering about it so here is the answer. According to a theory presented by civil and environmental engineering at the University of New Hampshire states that UVC light can damage the virus’s RNA. This disables the virus’s ability to reproduce and infect. Moreover, it also can damage the layer of protein that helps in disabling the ability to attach to a host cell. 

Talking about a typical UVC light it has a wavelength around 250 nanometers and it proves to be very effective in killing viruses. However, we are not sure that it will kill the coronavirus or not because every virus is different from the other. It is the reason due to which different viruses respond to different wavelengths. Moreover, there is also a limit to the dose for each of the viruses. All this is measure by light intensity and the duration of exposure to the virus. 

 

Even though we haven’t got enough proof to say that it can help us protect ourselves from the coronavirus but it can certainly help us defend our selves from many other viruses. There still a lot of research required for the coronavirus and we expect something from UVC too. So, let’s hope for the best and wait until there is good news from the researchers. 

 

UV Lighting Installation Service

MMI home improvement has been a part of the industry for a very long time. Our customers are extremely satisfied with their performances and have never even thought of going anywhere else for any of the services that we provide. It is because of our highly talented, dedicated, and hardworking technicians who not only have the certification but also the experience to ensure that they can deal with all kinds of situations. So, if you are looking to get them installed at your house then do not waste a moment and call them right away because no better company could help you install them as effectively as them. 

 

The final say

Facts and studies have proved the effectiveness of UV lights in killing viruses but it is important to know that there is a limitation to it. A few times the light source needs to be relocated multiple times to ensure that every corner of the room is disinfected. Moreover, sometimes depending upon the type, size of the house, the concentration of light, and the duration of exposure it also requires numerous cycles to completely disinfect the room. 

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