eli5: Why are the sun rays harmful but not rays for artificial lights?

Question

eli5: Why are the sun rays harmful but not rays for artificial lights?

In: 6

Answer 1

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.