Lenz Law

 With some copper drain pipe and a BIG neodymium magnet we can make gravity seem like a mere inconvenience. 

Sterilization Box

A project brought to you by the pandemic.

I had been reading about one of the ways to kill the little nasties that tend to make us ill from time to time. One of the ways was to use UVC light. Considering that I am never one to shy away from a project that deals with harmful radiation I decided to build a little sterilization box using a 25 watt germicidal bulb from Amazon, some items around the house, a smart plug, and some Amazon Echo integration.

Here you can see the inside of the sterilization chamber. Nothing special here just lined with tin foil to reflect as much light as possible. The hole is to allow for a shop light to go on top.

Here we see the shop light mounted.

Below is a video of a demonstration. A few things to note. 1. The audio from this clip WILL trigger your echo device if one is in range. It won't do anything since I doubt anyone has the command "STERILIZE" set up. 2.Near the bottom of the box I have a card that lights up when UVC hits it. This tells you "Yes, there is ionizing radiation present." 3. This is a demonstration so I merely set the command up to turn on for light 5 seconds and then turn off. In actual practice the light stays on for a period of time that will allow for proper sterilization based on the specs that come with the bulb. 

Thermal Camera

 OK this one freaked me out a little bit. I set it up so that the color blue is the same temperature as the room. Ideally it should make any temperature disturbance become visible. You can clearly see me enter the room. I lifted my shirt to flash the sensor and you can actually see my heart beating. WEIRD!!!

A UV Event

 Not entirely sure but I think the planet just got hit by something. I am pretty sure that I should never have to see a UV index of 15. I was under the impression that my equipment was malfunctioning until I looked at other local locations and then a location from a couple friends, one in Ohio and one in Florida. The trends all looks the same. According to spaceweather.com it looks like a coronal mass ejection should hit but it seems a little early I am not sure that it is the same type of radiation.

Looking at the data from my weather stations. I wonder what SPF I would need for this?

Here you can see the timing of the event along with solar radiation as well as UV.

These are two location close to my area so I know that my weather station was not malfunctioning. The event was truly happening.

Furthermore my Friend Ed in Florida and another location in Ohio showed the same spike. Something was clearly going on.

Not entirely sure how this event would have affected the UV hitting the ground.

Laser Controller

 Blasting through 5mm of wood!

Thermal Camera

 I love how after a big meal. The hotspot becomes my stomach.

Thermal Camera

 Mmmm cheapo thermal camera. Time to box it up and go Predator hunting.

WX Sat Photo

 Probably the best picture I am going to get of Dorian. I really need to refine my setup.

WX Sat Photo SCORE

 Score! I finally got a picture of Dorian.

WX Sat Photos

 Last daylight pass today. Hopefully I can get a pic with Dorian in it.

Blah, too far north

Not sure who he was but wow this guy in NC got a good picture

ISS Photos

 Pictures received from the ISS they are a little grainy because it was only about 5° over the eastern horizon.

Geiger Goodness and Dust?

 My continuing effort to plot out my environment using sensor data.

This is roughly a 24 hour plot of radiation levels in my work area. CPM stands for “click per minute” from the Geiger counter. I am not totally sure what happened around 8:30pm. Gamma ray burst?

This is a 24 hour plot of the dust concentrations (particles per 0.01 cubic feet) in my work space. I have to admit that I was skeptical that it was working but upon analysis, I see that the peaks coincide with the times I was in the work area stirring up dust. The large peak at the end of the plot is me clapping and rubbing my hands near the sensor.

Geiger Goodness

 After many tries I was able to get roughly a twenty one hour plot of the amount of radiation in my unfinished back room. Nothing of Chernobyl proportions going on in there but I have proved that I can now have an ongoing monitor running.

Geiger Goodness

 Finally got the Geiger counter interface spitting out numbers to an SD card. Time to let it run for 24 hours undisturbed in the back room.

Geiger Goodness

 Been watching that new HBO show Chernobyl and decided I needed a new toy.

ISS Photo

 Received image from ISS and was even able to watch it cross a clear sky outside.

Laser Controller

 A small laser controller I build using an Arduino Uno and a 5.5W 450nm laser.  

WX Sat Photo

 Still getting hit with Nor’Easter Toby. I like the night/day line in this pic. Also I’m a bit surprised that the signal made it through the cloud layer.

WX Sat Photo

 Getting better at decoding, here is the Nor’Easter hitting us at 23:36UTC

WX Sat Photo

 More crappy weather reported from NOAA-18