Physics II Credit Recovery

Title Sunscreen & UV Radiation

Designed by NY Teachers Course(s) High School

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Performance HS-PS4-4: Evaluate the validity and reliability of claims in published materials of the effects that different
Expectation frequencies of electromagnetic radiation have when absorbed by matter.
Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the idea that photons associated with different frequencies of light have different energies, and the
damage to living tissue from electromagnetic radiation depends on the energy of the radiation. Examples of published materials could
include trade books, magazines, web resources, videos, and other passages that may reflect bias.
Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to qualitative descriptions.

Science and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Engineering • Evaluate the validity and reliability of multiple claims that appear in scientific and technical texts or media
Practice reports, verifying the data when possible.

Disciplinary PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation

Core Ideas • When light or longer wavelength electromagnetic radiation is absorbed in matter, it is generally converted
into thermal energy (heat). Shorter wavelength electromagnetic radiation (ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays) can
ionize atoms and cause damage to living cells.

Crosscutting Cause and Effect

Concept • Cause and effect relationships can be suggested and predicted for complex natural and human-designed
systems by examining what is known about smaller scale mechanisms within the system.

Student 1. Obtaining information

Performance 2. Evaluating information

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Name________________________________

As summer is approaching, a primary topic of interest is the debate on the efficacy of sunscreen in preventing cell
damage. This debate has been fueled by the fact that skin cancer rates have increased sharply in the past 30 years due to
changes in environmental factors. While a significant amount of information is readily available to the general public,
bias can certainly be present in advertising, research, and other web resources. Review the sources below and evaluate
them based on your understanding of physics.

Source 1: Video: How the sun sees you

1. State the role of sunscreen in the protection of skin. Using your knowledge of physics and information from the
video, discuss the absorption and reflection of electromagnetic radiation by matter.

Source 2: Different Types of Electromagnetic Radiation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-ionizing_radiation
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Source 3:

How does sunscreen protect skin?

John Sottery, president of IMS, Inc., and a leading sunscreen researcher, offers the following explanation:

Natural sunlight contains, among other things, ultraviolet (UV) photons. These photons are shorter in
wavelength and higher in energy than visible light. Because they fall outside the visible spectrum, the
human eye cannot perceive them. When it comes to sun exposure, however, what you can't see will hurt
you. When these high-energy photons strike your skin, they generate free radicals and can also directly
damage your DNA. Over the short term, this UV-induced damage can produce a painful burn; over the
long term it causes premature aging of the skin, as well as millions of new cases of skin cancer each year.

The UV rays that we are exposed to here on the earth's surface consist of UVB and UVA photons. The
shorter wavelength UVB rays don't penetrate deeply into skin; they cause significant damage to DNA and
are the primary cause of sunburn and skin cancer. The longer wavelength UVA rays penetrate the deeper
layers of skin, where they produce free radicals. UVA exposure has been linked to premature aging of the
skin and immunologic problems.

A sunscreen product acts like a very thin bulletproof vest, stopping the UV photons before they can reach
the skin and inflict damage. It contains organic sunscreen molecules that absorb UV and inorganic
pigments that absorb, scatter and reflect UV. To deliver a high level of protection, a sunscreen product
must have sufficient quantities of these protective agents and it must optimally deploy them over the
skin's peaks and valleys.

The term SPF that appears on sunscreen labels stands for Sun Protection Factor, but it is really a sunburn
protection factor. Products with a higher SPF allow fewer of the photons that produce sunburn to strike
the skin. In simple terms, you can view an SPF 10 sunscreen as allowing 10 out of every 100 photons to
reach the skin and an SPF 20 product as allowing only 5 out of every 100 photons to reach the skin.
Because sunburn is primarily a UVB effect, it is possible for a sunscreen product to deliver high SPF
while allowing a significant percentage of the incident UVA photons to reach the skin. To deliver true
broad spectrum protection, products must also block a significant fraction of the UVA photons. In the
U.S. market, this requires that the products contain significant levels of zinc oxide, avobenzone or
titanium dioxide.

In the case of tanning beds, the UV output differs from bed to bed, but it generally contains less UVB and
significantly more UVA than does natural sunlight. This leads to less sunburn and more tanning. In the
long term, however, the UVA rays take their toll on skin. Thus, tanning beds do not represent a safe
tanning option.

2. Comment on the validity and reliability of Source 3 and explain why you think it is valid or not.

Source 4: From Body Glow Tanning Salon at https://bodyglowtanningsalon.com/sun-beds/sunbed-faqs/

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 An indoor tanning session is equivalent to how many hours in the sun?

Studies have loosely indicated that a single sunbed session could be equated to approximately 2 hours of
outdoor sun. However, the comparison of a controlled environment such as a sunbed, and an
uncontrolled environment such as the sun/outdoors, is comparing apples to oranges.

The main reason the comparison is difficult is the fact that sunbeds are a relatively stable source in terms
of energy output, while the sun is a highly unstable source. Factors that influence the sun’s UV exposure
are: clouds, pollution, dust in the air, ozone levels, elevation from sea level, geography, the season of the
year, and especially the time of day. Additionally, a person who stays outside for 2 hours without
sunscreen is most likely to burn, whereas a single session in a sunbed can eliminate the risk of burning
entirely due to control of time and variables.

3. Comment on the validity and reliability of Source 4 and explain why you think it is valid or not.

4. Identify the phenomenon being presented in the sources above. Then identify causes and the mechanism by
which this happens.

5. Compare and contrast the effects of particular wavelengths of radiation on single cells to the effects on entire
body tissue systems.

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This work is licensed by the author(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Hosted by The Wonder of Science
This work is licensed by the author(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Hosted by The Wonder of Science