From recent tests of the UV Reactor, I’ve seen the Polyethylene cup undergo some deformation such as buckling at the walls and slight cracking at the edges. The testing process will continue being adjusted such as altering the container’s shape.
During this process, as I counted on, I’m observing interesting phenomena and behavior of light and chemistry and learning along the way.
Most recently, that includes an encountering visible photophoresis, or phototaxis, and Brownian motion.
https://water.lsbu.ac.uk/water/Brownian.html
Photophoresis is the movement of small particles in response to light; phototaxis typically refers to organisms. However, I consider the molecular and atomic to be organismal because they are elemental, and we are made of the elements.
Most interestingly, the movement of small particles is rendered visible in UV light, due to luminescence and optical magnifying effect. In this case, the visibility is of aerosols and gas molecules, within the zinc electroplated steel and aluminum sides of the container.
While the flashing UV light causes faster motion, the steady UV light causes slower motion. This is a great example of ‘photofludics’ or ‘optofluidics,’ or fluid dynamics in response to light.
Considering thermodynamics: Lower temperatures cause slower movement, while higher temperatures cause faster movement.
As for the patterns of movement, it looked simultaneously regular and irregular. There was some randomness to the movement, as in Brownian motion, yet there was also larger shape to the movement, influenced by local magnetic fields such as from electronic devices. The choice of materials also comes into play in influencing dynamics.
And it’s easier to see the particle motion against a conductive material like steel, while the aluminum dampens the magnetic fields.
As I watched I could see the particles swimming or circulating along the currents of the magnetic field lines. It’s one thing to read about this magnetic Lorentz force; it’s quite another to actually see it and interact with it.
What I am seeing is the mutualism of the electro interacting with the magnetic, as the particles interact with the field. It’ll be important to consider field dynamics and phototaxis or photophoresis going forward of course. The particles are considerably more mobile in the flow of waves than say a human in the ocean!
In progressing with this plastic-to-water project, operating from possibility, it is definitely an interdisciplinary endeavor that considers different branches of the sciences simultaneously for testing and construction. That seems to me how an advanced concept like this will come to life in a readily usable format, and perhaps shorten the very interesting runway to this futuristic trashcan meets water purifier.