Source: Wikimedia Commons

As you can see in the image above, the ultraviolet light, colored in purple, is found between visible light and X-rays. The major types of UV light are UVA, UVB and UVC. UVA light and a small portion of UVB light reach the Earth, while UVC rays are completely absorbed by the ozone layer and atmosphere ^[2].

While all UV light can kill bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms, UVC -also known as “germicidal “light- is the most powerful of all. Since UVC rays don’t reach the Earth, researchers created special lamps that generate UVC and harness its antimicrobial power. An advanced form of UVC light called pulsed Xenon Light is used in our PXL products because it works faster and has a border antimicrobial effects compared with other UVC lamps. In another article ^[8] we covered the difference between LED and pulsed xenon UV lamps.

UVC light kills or inactivates microbes by creating direct damage to their RNA/DNA. And it starts to work in seconds. Bacterial like salmonella, E Coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and staphylococcus aureus (including MRSA), streptococcus pyogenes, bacillus subtilis, clostridium perfringens and various fecal coliforms are all killed or inactivated by the UVC light. Although some bacteria are killed faster than others, at the end they are all damaged by this light. Hard to treat viruses like enteroviruses.

poliovirus, rotaviruses, hepatitis A virus, parvovirus and adenoviruses are also destroyed by UVC light. Among coronaviruses: Sars-cov-1, MERS and the novel Sars-Cov-2 are inactivated in minutes by UVC rays. Various protozoa and fungi are sensitive to UVC light, as well. ^{[3], [4],[5],[6], [7]/}