Environmental Studies Program
Date of this Version
Spring 5-2019
Abstract
Medical gloves, both nitrile and latex, are used as a protective barrier to limit the spread of disease. Gloves are a single use product and their demand is set to increase by 9 to10 percent each year. In 2008, it was estimated that 100 billion gloves were used globally each year (Scott, 2008). This study is exploratory in nature, to determine if Ultra Violet light (UV) exposure can cause an acceleration in the breakdown of latex and nitrile gloves. It was hypothesized that the tensile strength and length to breakage for both glove types, latex and nitrile, would decrease after exposure to UV. The experiment was set up as a 4x4 latin square, where 1: latex was exposed to UV for 24 hours, 2: nitrile was exposed to UV for 24 hours, 3: a nitrile control where no UV was used and 4: a latex control with no UV exposure. The data show a 40 percent reduction in tensile strength and a 40 percent reduction in length to breakage after a 24-hour UV exposure. The decrease in tensile strength and length to breakage was statistically significant with UV application (p
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