Editing 2507: USV-C

{{comic
| number    = 2507
| date      = August 25, 2021
| title     = USV-C
| image     = usv_c.png
| titletext = Ultra-Serial Violet C light is unpolarized, so you don't have to flip the polarizing filter over when you get the orientation wrong the first time.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the fourth installment in the series of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] and presents Cursed Connectors #280: USB-C to UV-C. It follows [[2503: Memo Spike Connector]] (#102) and was first followed just a bit more than half a year later by [[2589: Outlet Denier ]] (#78).

This comic depicts a cable that converts from USB-C (at the top of the picture) to UV-C (at the bottom).

{{w|USB-C}} is a rotationally symmetrical {{w|Universal Serial Bus}} (USB) connector. {{w|Ultraviolet#UVC|UV-C}} is a range of {{w|ultraviolet light}} with wavelengths between 100 and 280 nm.  This is often used as a germicide, so this comic may also be related to the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] pandemic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has an [https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/uv-lights-and-lamps-ultraviolet-c-radiation-disinfection-and-coronavirus infosheet] with information about these devices and COVID-19. And the connector number (280) is likely chosen because it is the boundary between UV-C and UV-B in nanometres.

Similar cables actually exist, with a USB port at one end to power a small (usually visible light) lamp at the other. A cable with a UV-C lamp could, as noted above, be useful for disinfecting surfaces. However, the depicted design would be problematic because it would expose the user's skin and eyes to harmful ultraviolet radiation, unless it's specifically Far-UVC (222nm, [https://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/research_at_kobe_en/NEWS/collaborations/2020_04_07_01.html safe for human skin and eyes]).

Unless there is more to the UV-C end than indicated, the cable seems not to have use in bidirectional communication (even to confirm that it is {{w|TOSLINK|plugged in}} or {{w|Infrared_Data_Association|shone upon}} some suitable optical transceiver) so in any {{w|Li-Fi|data transfer situation}} it could be a limited-range broadcast-only system at best - which has its uses in certain niche cases.

The title text mentions that the UV-C is {{w|Polarization_(waves)|unpolarized}}. This is a pun with two uses of the term polarized. When referring to a connector 'polarization', or absence of it, it means that USB-C does not force you to use a single {{w|Electrical_connector#Keying|correct orientation}} when using it, i.e. you don't have to turn it "right-side-up" like USB-A or USB-micro.

It also refers to the use of a {{w|Polarizing filter (photography)|polarizing filter}} which takes unpolarized light waves and blocks out the waves that are not oriented in the same direction. These are used in sunglasses and photography to eliminate glare and enhance the image. These filters do need to be oriented in a specific direction in order to have the desired effect of passing/blocking a given polarization, perhaps to separate two perpendicularly orientated 'channels' that need to be unmixed exactly knowing the respective orientation of the two signals (''or'' exactly 180° out, which is what USB-C effectively allows for at present).

The light could also have been {{w|Circular_polarization|circularly polarized}}, which allows 'left' and 'right' rotating polarizations to simultaneously carry separate signals, but {{w|3D_film#Polarization_systems|not require the same strict orientation}} to operate properly, at all, so long as arbitrary mirrors are not involved at any stage of the optical path. Regardless, the implication here is that there is ''no'' deliberate rationalization of the light to contend with, anyway, which seems to be just making a positive point out of a potentially lost opportunity to double any intended signal bandwidth. The name "Ultra-Serial Violet..." could be read as consciously eschewing ''all'' attempts at parallelism, including talkback.

==Transcript==
:[A cable with a curled wire displays the end of both of its connectors. The top end has a USB-C connector and the bottom end has a UV-C LED. The UV light is shown coming out of this end with a hazy blue circle around a white middle. The lamp is also bluish. Above is a title and below is a label.]
:Cursed Connectors #280
:USB-C to UV-C

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics with color]]
[[Category: Cursed Connectors]]