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Battery-Powered Plasma Flashlight Makes Short Work of Bacteria
cylonlover writes "An international team of scientists has created a handheld, battery powered device that has been shown to effectively rid skin of bacteria in an instant by blasting it with plasma. The plasma flashlight, which shouldn't be confused with a plasma torch that will damage much more than bacteria if used on the skin, could provide a convenient way for paramedics and military personnel to deal with harmful bacteria in the field. The self-contained device is powered by a 12 V battery and doesn't require any external gas feed or handling system. The plume of plasma it generates is between 20-23C (68-73.4F), so it won't damage the skin. It is also fitted with resistors to stop it heating up and becoming too hot to touch. Its creators say it can also be easily manufactured at a cost of less than US$100 per unit."
Wonder if it works on solid surfaces as well. Just imagine, use it on your face a few times a day and eliminate acne. Of course you'll probably get really tan really quickly, but yeah. No more Yellowish Brown splotches as you leave after donating blood, they can sanitize you with a quick brush of a plasma flashlight. If places replaced the costly paper towel dispensers and soap dispensers with one of these, (a heavy duty plugin version) you could sanitize the hands of a hundred people in like a minute! No more soap and wasteful paper towels that are almost never recycled after use as a hand towel. No more costly hot air hand dryers that take hundreds of watts to run.
The resistors limit current. And yes, they will heat up (somewhat). But better the resistors than your skin. I'm sure they are located within the device so as not to contact your skin.
Have gnu, will travel.
I wonder if the bacteria that live on my skin stop more germs than my immune system. I suspect so since they have the numbers. It is sad that I can't find a bar of soap that does not have anti bacterial stuff in it. Germophobes have come down with some nasty fungal infections after ridding their skin of bacteria. It sounds useful for treating that missing patch of skin that time I left it on the goose poop decorated bike path. That one started to show sign of blood poisoning.
I had a friend who's allergic to latex. Forget the itch. Anaphylactic shock. When I asked him about the common use of latex being inconvenient, he said there were non-latex versions available.
Bill - aka taniwha
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Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
Yes, and it worries me to read "we don't know how it kills the bacteria" and "it's only 20-23C, so it won't damage the skin" in the same article. I'm not one of those "OMG it might cause cancer" types, but this seems to be one example where such fears could be warranted. After all, you could say "it's only 20-23C so it won't kill any bacteria" but that's obviously not true. Could we maybe first figure out what it does exactly before declaring it safe and letting paramedics use it on a daily basis?