| Topic: |
Science > Physics |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
02 May 2007 08:07:36 PM |
| Object: |
sunburn |
I was just wondering if the photoelectric effect is the only physics
explanation for sunburn, or if other mechanisms are at play.
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| User: "Androcles" |
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| Title: Re: sunburn |
03 May 2007 04:37:09 AM |
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<bob@coolgroups.com> wrote in message =
news:1178154456.801557.39620@n59g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
I was just wondering if the photoelectric effect is the only physics
explanation for sunburn, or if other mechanisms are at play.
By definition of SUN burn, yes.=20
You can of course get a sunburn from a tanning lamp.
(As opposed to acid burn, frost bite, scald, incinerate, combustion)
Black skinned people do not "burn" (skin dying and peeling off)
as easily as white skinned people for the same amount of energy=20
falling on each. Why?
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| User: "Uncle Al" |
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| Title: Re: sunburn |
02 May 2007 09:03:54 PM |
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wrote:
I was just wondering if the photoelectric effect is the only physics
explanation for sunburn, or if other mechanisms are at play.
Definitely the photoelectric effect - local vacuum exacerbates skin
irritation from bremsstrahlung leading to zitterbewegung (the itching)
and subsequent weltschmerz.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2
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| User: "Andy Resnick" |
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| Title: Re: sunburn |
03 May 2007 08:46:54 AM |
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wrote:
I was just wondering if the photoelectric effect is the only physics
explanation for sunburn, or if other mechanisms are at play.
I thought this was a silly question, but a quick check of the literature
didn't indicate what actually causes sunburn.
Sunburn is an inflammatory response to being "burned" by UV light. This
is different than later-time incidence of skin cancer, to which the
pathway is clear- UV light ionizes DNA, damaging it, which can lead to
mutated cells that do not obey the normal cell cycle (cancer).
But the initial inflammatory response does not seem to be much
understood- what is sensing the "burn", for example. It's not thermal
sensors, and certain medications can cause a sunburn, or increase the
sensitivity to sunlight.
I'm not sure how much of what's called the "systemic immune response",
which involves the lymphatic system, is understood. Not much.
--
Andrew Resnick, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Case Western Reserve University
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