Making Invisible Ink Visible

The purpose of using invisible ink can be as simple as a lover’s note being passed in class to as complex as sending out spy messages from another country. There have been different types of inks used down the ages and science experiments have produced new substances that can be used as invisible ink as well.

Depending on the type of invisible ink that has been used there can be different methods of making the writing on the paper visible. For the simpler inks such as the juice of lemon or milk it is easy to reveal the secret writing. All you have to do is heat up the paper and the writing on the page pops right up. Of course you need to make sure that you secure the heat source properly or you may just end up burning the sheet of paper on which your message is written.

For the more complex inks, which can be fluorescent in nature, you will need to have a source of ultra violet light to see what the message is all about. Portable lights can be carried on your person so that you can decode and decipher the message written with fluorescent ink. These are more durable inks as they can’t be washed away very easily. Science projects to find more invisible ink possibilities are always in progress. Maybe you will discover the next one.