Reskin Menu

Can I get sunburnt through glass?

Wednesday 22nd July 2009
Submitted by Luis Villazon
Vincent Bradley, Canterbury

Ordinary glass absorbs 97 per cent of the UVB rays that cause sunburn and some skin cancers, and 37 per cent of the less harmful UVA radiation. This translates to a protection of about SPF30, so you can still get burned with long enough exposure. Car windscreens have a plastic layer bonded between two layers of glass and this blocks all the UVB and 80 per cent of the UVA, making sunburn very unlikely.

What's the powder on a moth's wings?
previous qanda Article
Why do we sigh?
next qanda Article
Q&A Tabs
Is swallowing your own phlegm harmful?

Phlegm is the mucous secretion of the respiratory passages. The cilia cells that line these passages are continually driving the phlegm upward to the throat, where it triggers the swallow reflex...

Are yellow teeth stronger?

The strongest teeth are natural, healthy ones and these teeth are not white. At least, not white like the colour of paper, or even the colour of piano keys. They are a couple of shades darker than...

Is time real or an illusion?

Diverse thinkers, from the ancient Greek philosophers through contemporary quantum cosmology and eternal inflation theory, have called time an illusion. For them, the perception of time passing...

What is the record for the most languages spoken by one person?

It depends on how high (or low) you set the bar of fluency. Ziad Fazah, born in Liberia, brought up in Beirut and now living in Brazil, claims to be the world's greatest living polyglot, with...

Can I get sunburnt through glass?

Ordinary glass absorbs 97 per cent of the UVB rays that cause sunburn and some skin cancers, and 37 per cent of the less harmful UVA radiation. This translates to a protection of about SPF30, so...

Are we the only species with females that experience orgasm?

All female mammals have a clitoris, the sole purpose of which is to react to sexual stimulation, and presumably this stimulation has evolved to be pleasurable for most species. But establishing...

Where do sound waves end up?

To create a sound, we have to set matter - whether it's a gas like air, a liquid or even a solid material - in regular motion, creating a wave of specific frequencies, which we hear as a sound of...

Why do mirrors reverse left and right, not up and down?

Mirrors don’t reverse left and right either – that’s just our interpretation of what happens. Your reflection in the mirror is actually reversed front to back – if you have...

Could we use the Sun to 'slingshot' spacecraft to the stars?

Discovered by an American student named Gary Flandro in the mid-1960s, the slingshot manoeuvre usually involves spacecraft briefly 'coat-tailing' a planet orbiting the Sun, extracting some of the...

Why does my car windscreen defrost despite the wind chill of travelling at speed?

The ice disappears because the wind blows away water molecules that have evaporated or 'sublimed' from the ice, so the ice slowly shrinks in size. The molecules that escape are those with the...