eli5: Why are the sun rays harmful but not rays for artificial lights?
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The sun is hotter and emits rays of a higher frequency. We can’t construct practical lamps that are as hot and last a long time. The power of artificial lighting is also lower. If you turn on a lamp on a sunny day, you can barely see it and can look directly at it without being blinded.
Gas discharge lamps can emit ultraviolet frequencies without using extreme heat. These lamps are harmful to plastics and delicate historical artifacts by making them turn yellow and crack. They can also harm eyes. But their power is much lower than that of the sun, and their harm takes a long time to set in.
There are different kinds of light like red light and green light. There are even kinds of light we can’t see. The harmful light is called UV light. The sun makes UV light as well as others. Our lamp lights don’t produce UV light.
What causes sunburns, cancer, some forms of eye damage and a host of other things is mostly UV light, a range of light which operates at a higher frequency than the colors we see. The sun produces A LOT of it. Standard interior lighting produces much less. Artificial lights CAN produce large quantities of UV, that’s how things like those UV sterilizers work, but the commonly used incandescent, fluorescent and LED bulbs don’t.
Tanning bed lights are UV and are harmful.
Desk lamps are different kind of light, and much, much less bright.
Harmful rays from the sun are UV light. Artificial lights typically produce little to none of that, as it is wasted energy, but fluorescent tubes do produce some and rumor has it you *can* get sunburn from them if you are exposed enough.
Artificial rays don’t have radiation.
The sun is literally a giant explosion/nuclear bomb happening 24/7 and the result is radiation, heat, and light. Artificial light is just light
There are UV LEDs and you actually need to be careful with them as even the small lights in a proper flashlight could damage your skin or eyes.
Artificial lights DO harm your skin, in the same way the sun does, on a much weaker scale.
You should still wear sunscreen even if you work inside though. It’ll keep you looking 30 until you’re 50 something.
They are when they are UVB and UVC lights. UVA isn’t as strong, but the types of lights you see in tanning beds are UV and are still considered a cause for cancer in the same way as tanning out in the sun. You use these types of bulbs in basking lamps for reptiles and to make sure they synthesize the right nutrients, and get the heat they need.
Artificial light does not emit any kind of harmful radiation such as UV , Unless of course the light source you mention is specifically designed to emit UV light. But in that case i would not be around such a lightsource for too long
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