‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

The UV index is not the warm sensation of sunlight on bare skin

99 points · 79 comments · evakhoury

  1. nomel · · focus · HN ↗
    I don't know about this. I can feel where there are holes in my sunblock (which only block UV) which lets me know where to apply it, and the sensation is not one of heat of the sun, it's different. I'm not sure about the mechanism, but the presence of the sunblock stops the "UV" type sensation. This from the moment I put it on to long after the water component of the sunblock has evaporated. And, the type of sunblock doesn't matter (the drier waterproof kind or various lotion varieties). And, I do notice a difference between the different SPF, along with some "bad" sunblock that I just kept applying but couldn't make the feeling go away (it had apparently separated, and everyone that used it was burned).

    I think the "real" test would be to just shine a UV light in a dark room, to see if the source can be identified while blindfolded, or something.

    1. taneq · · focus · HN ↗
      I’ve always thought of sunblock as taking the ‘sting’ out of the sunlight. It’s a separate sensation that I can feel even on a cold day.

      This is in Australia where the hole in the ozone layer often results in 10x ‘normal’ UV levels, you can get noticeably burned in a few minutes.

      1. meatmanek · · focus · HN ↗
        > This is in Australia where the hole in the ozone layer often results in 10x ‘normal’ UV levels, you can get noticeably burned in a few minutes.

        By 10x you mean 10% more, and by ozone layer you mean the fact that the southern hemisphere's summer coincides with Earth's perihelion while the northern hemisphere's summer coincides with aphelion.

        <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.abc.net.au&#x2F;news&#x2F;science&#x2F;2025-02-04&#x2F;sun-summer-uv-sunburn-skin-cancer-australia-ozone-layer&#x2F;104870806" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.abc.net.au&#x2F;news&#x2F;science&#x2F;2025-02-04&#x2F;sun-summer-uv...

        1. esrauch · · focus · HN ↗
          I expect they just meant UV 10, which is 10x the energy of UV 1.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.