Get an induction charger mat and put it in the bottom of a two compartment box. The left compartment is a charger. The right is just a box.

When the lid shuts, an ultraviolet light comes on and sterilizes whatever is inside the box. When you open the lid, the light shuts off.

Put the box on your nightstand and empty your pockets into it every night.

So your nasty cell phone that you used in the stall, your ipod passed around by half a dozen teenagers, quarters from the tollway, couch pennies, dancing dollars, car keys and pocket knives that haven't been washed--ever--etc. all get sterilized and sanitized overnight, and your electronics get charged at the same time.
-- ShawnBob, Apr 10 2010

Cobalt-60 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_60
The business. [8th of 7, Apr 11 2010]

Automatic Food Irradiation Fridge Automatic_20Food_20Irradiation_20Fridge
Shameless elf promotion [8th of 7, Apr 11 2010]

Wonder what an induction charger mat might do to the mag stripe on the back of my credit cards?
-- jurist, Apr 10 2010


[+] but some plastics don't like UV.
-- FlyingToaster, Apr 10 2010


And UV won't get to all the crevices. Maybe generate some ozone in there as well. Or gamma rays. (You'd better have the string-and-can model of 'phone, though).
-- spidermother, Apr 11 2010


A telephone sanitizer. Ah, Douglas Adams, thou shouldst be living at this hour.
-- mouseposture, Apr 11 2010


The UV will not penetrate very deeply through that cheesy substance that coats most of the objects from your pocket and elsewhere. It is not that waxy crud itself but rather the adherent lint and hair that blocks the rays.

This idea would be much improved if it were lead lined and used ionizing radiation.
-- bungston, Apr 11 2010


We're with you on that one, [bungs].

Cobalt-60 would be the best thing for the job.

<link>
-- 8th of 7, Apr 11 2010


//Cobalt-60 would be the best thing// The beauty of it is, it would keep functioning even during power outages.

If you used Uranium-235, though, then even after the collapse of civilization, the Morlocks & the Eloi could *still* use it to sterilize their cellphones.
-- mouseposture, Apr 11 2010


Er, no, [mp], it's got a long half life, and its path is alpha decay - no good for food sterilisation. You need a high gamma flux for that.
-- 8th of 7, Apr 11 2010


[8th] I just *knew* you were going to criticise my choice of isotope, dammit. However: we're talking about sterilizing fomites, not food. We only want to irradiate the surfaces. So what's wrong with alpha decay? (and the long half life was the whole point of the anno.)
-- mouseposture, Apr 11 2010


Alphas don't have the cojones for the job. They're short range in air, too.
-- 8th of 7, Apr 12 2010


The problem is biofilms. I don't mean the micron or two of gentle buggies for which an alpha particle might suffice. I mean the caked on stuff that you go at with your fingernails. That's where the real germs live.
-- bungston, Apr 12 2010



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