A newbie question from someone who should no longer be asking newbie questions: Is sunlight the only bad light for coins, or should I hide my coins from houselights as often as possible too? IDK if the question has been answered before..if so I never read it, or forgot..lol stainless
I've never thought about it before. I would say, to be on the safe side, that they should be exposed to light as little as possible. Then again, that may be too cautious. I'm thinking about all of the museums who have their coins on permanent display, with the overhead lighting. They don't seem to be affected. Hmmm...
I keep my coins in the dark simply because of where I store them though I cant think of any reason why normal room lighting would harm a coin.
Light is energy, and I'm pretty sure energy can speed up the toning process. Think about the people heating coins to get AT. By itself I don't think light (energy) can change coins. It still requires the proximity of other compounds (air, water, sulfur, etc.) and energy sources (temp changes, light, etc.) But since some of those are always around, one way of slowing down the natural processes is to eliminate them as much as possible.
well, I wouldn't put them under hot halogen lamps but soft light, the kind that lights your average room, I would think the effect on the coin would be negligible...It wont shock me if people here say differently.
I agree. It would still affect the coin more than if it were in the dark, but probably not significantly in a lifetime. And coins are really hard to view and appreciate in the dark Of course, dark does have its avantages Kiss
Light equates to heat, that's basically all it amounts to. So when it is said that you should store your coins in a cool, dark place, then rather obviously sunlight would be bad. Sunlight creates a huge amount of radiant heat. That spot on the carpet where the sun shines through your window - that spot can be 40 degrees, or more, hotter than the ambient air in the room. Now imagine if that sunlight hit the storage container you use for your coins. And no, the lights in your house aren't going to damage the coins unless they shine directly onto them. But for the lights in your house to be able to hit the coins at all means that your coins are stored out in the open part of the room. You don't want to do that - not because of the lights, but because of everything else. The air changes, the temperature changes, the humidity changes - all of that is bad for your coins. But if you store your coins in a safe (or other container) tucked away in the closet then everything remains as stable and consistent as it can be. Sunlight doesn't get to the closet, air vents don't get to the closet, the humidity stays relatively constant because the air doesn't circulate well in there. So in simplest terms, store your coins in a cool, dark place. It doesn't get any easier than that.
I vote with Kanga as certain light energy can activate free radicals on the surface . Which, if the other components~ moisture, environmental substances, oxygen~ are readily available, toning or corrosion can occur. Ultraviolet light in such as "black lamps", plant growth lights, SAD lights, or even the sun can contain varying amounts of UV. Dougs storage suggestion tends to eliminate the necessary factors. Heat can cause similar free radical reactions, so on a window sill you may get both ( depends on the UV transmission of the glass) Basically , if you can look at the light source, it is OK. The molecules in your retina react more than coin surfaces, so if there is no warning about looking directly at it, the bulb should be OK. That should be obvious about the sun. Jim
Doug is right on here...Light is the layman term for Electro Magnetic Radition! Heat energy traveling at the fastest known speed. There are many materials and liquids that are light sensitive...in my field, some blends of cellular growth medium is light sensitive and must be kept covered during operations. RickieB
"Electromagnetic radiation (sometimes abbreviated EMR) takes the form of self-propagating waves in a vacuum or in matter. EM radiation has an electric and magnetic field component which oscillate in phase perpendicular to each other and to the direction of energy propagation. Electromagnetic radiation is classified into types according to the frequency of the wave, these types include (in order of increasing frequency): radio waves, microwaves, terahertz radiation, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays. Of these, radio waves have the longest wavelengths and Gamma rays have the shortest. A small window of frequencies, called visible spectrum or light, is sensed by the eye of various organisms, with variations of the limits of this narrow spectrum. EM radiation carries energy and momentum, which may be imparted when it interacts with matter." I guess it's all a matter of degree.
Cloud... you are correct..it is a matter of degree.. The visible light spectrum is the section of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum that is visible to the human eye. It ranges in wavelength from approximately 400 nm (4 x 10-7 m) to 700 nm (7 x 10-7 m). It is also known as the optical spectrum of light. The wavelength (which is related to frequency and energy) of the light determines the perceived color. The ranges of these different colors are listed in the table below. Some sources vary these ranges pretty drastically, and the boundaries of them are somewhat approximate as they blend into each other. The edges of the visible light spectrum blend into the ultraviolet and infrared levels of radiation. Direct from an old Physcis Text... Regards, RickieB
