mosquitos....

[resal7]

I was wondering...:thinking:
Mosquitos are attracked by UV and near-UV light,isn't that so?
(I think those strange looking blue flouos with that electricity mesh around,that zaps various flying insects in butchery shops,is in fact near-UV or UVa light..)
So,'cause I live in a southern mediterranean country,it will be very usefull to constract a LASER MOSQUITO BURNER...
I was thinking of a beam hitting the ceiling during nightime,mosquitos get excited with the 405nm light,fly towards the beam to check out and....
fsssss Burn baby,burn!!!!:eg::eg::eg:

Now this laser unit must operate with a mains power supply not with batteries,must not overheat for at least 8 hours of CW,be powerfull enough to burn a mosquito in less than a sec but not dangerous to humans.......
Can it be done?
If yes which diode suggested?
It will need TEC?(for silent operation...with a big copper heatsink,passive-no fan blowing)
If it can be done it will be a great sales product down here.....No more insect repellent chemicals to breath while sleeping...It will be nice for camping too..

 

[Jacob32123]

I don't know how quickly a BR will kill a mosquito I would guess with a 12x it would not be instant though. Also, any laser that will kill a mosquito will blind a human instantly

 

[Cyparagon]

Mosquitos are attracked by UV and near-UV light,isn't that so?

Wrong. Conversation ends here. Wiki if you don't believe me.

 

[Arayan]

Wrong. Conversation ends here. Wiki if you don't believe me.

Cyparagon is right, UV is deadly for almost all living species...

 

[charliebruce]

He's meaning that the biting/harmful bugs are not attracted by UV, only small, relatively harmless ones. UV is bad because it knocks DNA around, though the mode of insect death by blu-ray would be over-heating, not damage to DNA.

 

[resal7]

Guys you should check this out :HowStuffWorks "How Bug Zappers Work"
Read the section about light:it says that UV attracts insects.....
also this:Why Are Insects Attracted to Light?
and this:WikiAnswers - What color light attracts the most bugs
...never say never and never end a conversation,being so absolute about things......

 

[Jacob32123]

Let's test this.... Who has a BR that can run for an hour? Mabye I will go throw my 48 inch blacklight outside tonight

 

[resal7]

Also check out this:YouTube - Mosquito killed by a Laser
and this:http://www.physorg.com/news156423566.html
[QUOTEWhat's wrong with bug zappers?
They kill beneficial insects, attract mosquitoes but don't kill them, help mosquitoes find standing water to lay their eggs, and spray insect fragments into the air. The Ultra Violet (UV) light from zappers attracts all night-flying insects. Each night zappers kill about 3,000 beneficial insects such as moths and butterflies, which pollinate flowers, but only a handful of mosquitoes. A Notre Dame University study in South Bend Indiana showed that people with a zapper in their backyard got bit 10% more than people without one because zappers attracted mosquitoes but did not kill them. UV light also helps mosquitoes find water where they lay their eggs. When UV light is reflected off the surface of water it is polarized. Like polarized sunglasses that reduce glare and help you see objects more clearly, the mosquitoes follow the polarized light to the water to lay their eggs. Because they attract large bugs, they are purposefully designed to explode them so they don't accumulate and become a fire hazard. Exploding bug-fragments drift on the air. People and food nearby may be contaminated by insect-fragments from the zapper.

<Back to top>

][/QUOTE]
from:http://www.control-mosquitoes.com/#mf5


Cyparagon probably YOU are wrong......

 

[resal7]

I wonder...polarized light.:thinking:....water..:thinking:..laser beam near UV:thinking: hmmm....

"Originally Posted by Cyparagon
Wrong. Conversation ends here. Wiki if you don't believe me.

Cyparagon is right, UV is deadly for almost all living species.'

Well if there wasn't UVa our body could not synthesize vitamin D,If there wasn"t UVb many reptiles would have been extincted,many insects also,flowers wouldn't smell(UV plays basic role in terpenes synthesis),fruits and vegetables would taste like..nothing at all(you have eaten veggies that was grown in glasshouses,tasting ...plain water!),weed would not make you high and so on ...Who said UV is deadly?In big and frequent doses can be mutative(specially UVb and UVc)
UVc is blocked from the upper layers of earth's atmosphere(ozone layer,O3),and all living species in this planet,evolved WITH the presence of UV radiation(for only...some million years) and in many ways USE it for certain metabolic compound synthesis or for other CRITICAL for surviving ways(orientation,camouflage,attraction,ect).......except if you are an albino,then you should stay away from average daily UV dose....

Our violet lasers are just CLOSE to UVa-Perfect for 'calling' mosquitos...

WIKIPEDIA sucks...Everybody can write there all sorts of crap...(It should be named CRAPEDIA)



:worthy::worthy::worthy::worthy::worthy::worthy:
Well,I don't hear anything from cyparagon.... "half-knowledge is worse than ignorance" we say in my country...Keep that in mind as a student....And don"t be so absolute("And yet it moves...."G.Galilei,confronting absolute minds during Inquisition_ring any bells?)
And arayan,you are a researcher in microbiology,you should knew all that....You should knew that UV radiation played a first role in life creation....And still does....What kind of microbes you deal with? Those thriving in caves or deep in ocean abyss?(in a way you are right:Germicidal UVC radiation(280nm-100nm,near X-ray radiation) KILLS some micro-organisms,but nothing else,at least not with the same ease and not in 15' and anyway nobody mentioned that kind of UV_plus that a laser in that wavelength doesn't excist.)
Maybe we are wrong afterall...Maybe earth is flat,deadly still.....:crackup::crackup::crackup:...and is the center of the universe:crackup::crackup::crackup:


Anyway,now that we know that UV ATTRACTS mosquitos and doesn't kill people, like a ninja(I'm sure that if Jacob32123 puts outside his 48(!) inch UV light,he will have great fun with all that airborne company that will gather around it...),does anybody have any SERIOUS suggestions about diode kind,working current and heat dissipation?:anyone:
I JUST WANT MY BLOOD BACK! Damned mosquitoes,your days(nights,in fact) are coming to an end.....

 

[Arayan]

There probably was a misunderstanding...at least for me
I speak about a big amount of UV intensity (such as those from lasers) which induce a negative photomovement or may bring considerable photodameges in organisms. The importance of UV radiation is clearly demonstrate in most physiological processes and also in the migratory behavior in a lot of animals and protists but these phenomenons are related to a very low intensity of UV-A (1.5 W m-2) and UV-B (0.1 W m-2).
For these reasons is very strange to me that a coherent and high intensity of a UV laser could induce a positive phototaxis in insects and not a photophobic response.

 

[amkdeath]

I would say it's possible, but it is not worth the time and effort. I doubt you could keep a 12x (supposedly) diode on for 8 hours straight, every day, and not do any damage to it. The amount of energy required to keep the apparatus running and keep it cool would be counter-productive.

Also, I doubt you could keep this thing outside, if it gets humid, wet, or rainy at night, your laser is screwed. You cannot keep this apparatus indoors either, as the laser would do more harm to your eyes than to any mosquitoes.

A somewhat practical indoor solution would be to maybe get a very weak near UV source to point at a downward facing dish, which is at the same time enclosed with a small opening. Under the dish would be a quiet fan, and a metal screen above it. Mosquitoes would be attracted to the light, and sucked onto the net by the air flow and left there to die.

I guess that defeats the whole purpose of trying to fry the mosquito mid air with the laser though. To do so, you would need a VERY powerful laser, so that wherever the mosquito comes into contact with the light it would be fried. A conventional diode laser would not do this, as if the mosquito was too far off from the point where the light is focused on, it wouldn't burn fast enough by just passing though. A very powerful... umm... CO2 laser? would do this, but then you are just asking for trouble, and the dangers/cost of running such an apparatus would make it very counterproductive.

To make a long story short, its a cool idea, but it is not practical. You would not be able to pull it off without hurting someone or incurring unneeded costs. I mean, I think you said it would interest the people in your area, but who would pay hundreds of dollars for a dangerous laser that could harm them and their family when they could just buy a cheap $20 UV zapper or spend a couple of bucks on a can of bug spray?

Regards,

Amk

 

[resal7]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
originally posted by arayan
There probably was a misunderstanding...at least for me
I speak about a big amount of UV intensity (such as those from lasers) which induce a negative photomovement or may bring considerable photodameges in organisms. The importance of UV radiation is clearly demonstrate in most physiological processes and also in the migratory behavior in a lot of animals and protists but these phenomenons are related to a very low intensity of UV-A (1.5 W m-2) and UV-B (0.1 W m-2).
For these reasons is very strange to me that a coherent and high intensity of a UV laser could induce a positive phototaxis in insects and not a photophobic response.

It depends...In the equatorial zone of earth UVa & UVb intensity is much higher than you state...(UVb has an average intensity,during midday is over 0.4 W/m-2 at sea level...)Still causing positive phototaxis in many insects....
Violet laser has not at all UVb radiation and only small amounts of UVa(specially when overdriven),so I don't think it will affect the positive phototaxis of mosquitos...
What I'm afraid of is when the mosquito "enters" the beam....
The beam has to have adequate power to burn the mosquito before its nerve reflex system make it to fly away from the beam,unharmed.....
Anyway the mosquitos don't have good eyesight,so it is not easy from them to distiguish high intensity light from low....But they have an extraordinary heat-scanning sensor system...
(they can "see" your blood running in your veins from 6-10 feet away from you!!!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
originally posted by amkdeath
I would say it's possible, but it is not worth the time and effort. I doubt you could keep a 12x (supposedly) diode on for 8 hours straight, every day, and not do any damage to it. The amount of energy required to keep the apparatus running and keep it cool would be counter-productive.

Also, I doubt you could keep this thing outside, if it gets humid, wet, or rainy at night, your laser is screwed. You cannot keep this apparatus indoors either, as the laser would do more harm to your eyes than to any mosquitoes.

A somewhat practical indoor solution would be to maybe get a very weak near UV source to point at a downward facing dish, which is at the same time enclosed with a small opening. Under the dish would be a quiet fan, and a metal screen above it. Mosquitoes would be attracted to the light, and sucked onto the net by the air flow and left there to die.

I guess that defeats the whole purpose of trying to fry the mosquito mid air with the laser though. To do so, you would need a VERY powerful laser, so that wherever the mosquito comes into contact with the light it would be fried. A conventional diode laser would not do this, as if the mosquito was too far off from the point where the light is focused on, it wouldn't burn fast enough by just passing though. A very powerful... umm... CO2 laser? would do this, but then you are just asking for trouble, and the dangers/cost of running such an apparatus would make it very counterproductive.

To make a long story short, its a cool idea, but it is not practical. You would not be able to pull it off without hurting someone or incurring unneeded costs. I mean, I think you said it would interest the people in your area, but who would pay hundreds of dollars for a dangerous laser that could harm them and their family when they could just buy a cheap $20 UV zapper or spend a couple of bucks on a can of bug spray?

Regards,

well,from what i know myshelf,maybe you are right....but the laser that scientists developed for malaria fighting, is a 405nm and not even a 6X.......so how they have done it?

Is it possible to have a photosensor on the end of the beam,that when the light gets interrupted,the beam from idle power(just to attract mosquitos),goes to full power instant,burns the flying vampire and goes back to idle?
Something like CW,scan mosquito,pulse & kill mosquito,go back to idle CW waiting for the next victim....
Also don't forget that even a slight burn on mosquito's fragile wing,will be more than enough to render it harmless,not able to fly...not able to bite...
(And I will get all the fun ,executing them in the morning,with my 6x.....):gun::gun::gun:

 

[amkdeath]

Well, Pulse to CW would make no sense, as the on and off pulses would trigger the sensor, and then it would just mess things up.

What you are looking for is a NLDR, or a Negative Light dependent resistor. The conventional photo-sensor, or LDR Decreases in resistance with an increase in light. What you need is something that decreases in resistance in the absence of light.

But even still, the mosquito would pass through the beam (maybe .6 CM in diameter?) so fast that the pulse of energy would not be enough to burn it, from a small diode.

Once again, if you look into some big bad lasers, with high wattage... You could probably hook up a CO2 Laser to shine on a thermistor, so when temperature increases resistance increases. Then when the mosquito passes though the beam (at 1.2cm in diameter maybe?) it would be insta fried. But then again this defeats the whole purpose of attracting mosquitoes with UV, and finding a suitable thermistor that wont melt from the beam and can handle the type of electricity going to your bad boy will be hard.

I still don't see it happening with a 405.. I mean, even if you could get a suitable laser that will burn the mosquito in a fraction of a second, the mosquito is quite small, and not fat at all... So it wouldn't block the beam from hitting the photo sensor... It would create a VERY small shadow, depending on how far from the sensor your mosquito passes through the beam.

I don't know much about mosquitoes, but I do believe their wings are transparent/reflective? I doubt the laser would damage the wings, but I am just guessing here. The best way to find out would be to test it out yourself.

Keep thinking, I'm sure there is a solution out there. It's not a good business idea, but its a nice time killer or project to try for fun.

Regards,

Amk


EDIT: I see you said mosquitoes have a "heat sensing system", in that case CO2 Would not work... unless they like heat... because at like 10.6 microns the CO2 Laser will essentially just be a heat gun.

 

[resal7]

I think you are right....I tried to fry some mosquitos with my 6x....They seem to like the beam....but they just don't come too close....It's like they know...."Oh what a nice light...ooops it burns..."
They fly around it,but not through it...never expected mosquitos to have any I.Q......
But hope dies last....

 

[amkdeath]

I think you are right....I tried to fry some mosquitos with my 6x....They seem to like the beam....but they just don't come too close....It's like they know...."Oh what a nice light...ooops it burns..."
They fly around it,but not through it...never expected mosquitos to have any I.Q......
But hope dies last....

I guess we can say: case closed.

lesson learned: Don't use your laz0rs for pest control. It don't work. =P

Regards,

amk

 

[resal7]

Case Closed