Sunscreeen efffectiviness

Hypothesis
My Hypothesis is does a sunscreen lotion reduce risk of sunburn or skin cancer.

Procedures and Materials 1st Experiment
1. UV monitor
2. Sun lotions with different SPF (0,8,15,30,50,70)
3. A day with bright sunshine

Procedures
1. I had to do background research about the terms, questions I have, and concepts.
2. Myprocedure was to use the UV monitor on a bright day
• I had to set up the UV monitor with my skin type and the SPF number I was going to use.
• The UV monitor gave me the right temperature and time.
• Then I took the measurer and put it directly to sun when the UV monitor read the UV rays it would stop beeping and then I would look at it and it would show me the UV index number and the maximumexposure time for the SPF number I put into the UV monitor.
• I wrote my notes and then I repeated it for each SPF number that I chose for my project.
• I repeated every step to make sure that everything is correct.

I at first wanted to know what UV rays were and why they are dangerous. I found out that there were 3 harmful UV rays, UVA, UVB, and UVC and I wanted to know the differencebetween them. Researching about them made me learn what the meaning of SPF was and now I know what it is and how it works.
UV rays are the rays that come from the sun and they are known as the Ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet is light that is electromagnetic radiation with a wave length shorter than that of visible light but longer than X-rays. There are three basic types
• UVA- long wave UV(400-315nm): This passes through glass, it’s not filtered out in the atmosphere and this is the one that penetrates deep into the skin and causes skin cancer it’s like an X-ray.
• UVB-sunburn UV (315-280nm): This does not pass through glass, the highest intensity is at noon time and some of it is filtered in the atmosphere. It is the biggest cause of skin cancer.
• UVC-short wave UV (280-0nm):This light is very dangerous, it’s completely filtered by the ozone layer and it does not pass through the atmosphere.
Sun protection is protecting you from the harm caused by UV rays. Sunscreen is a lotion, spray, gel or other typical product that absorbs or reflects some of the sun harmful UV rays.
SPF- Sun Protection Faction which is the number you see on the label of a sunscreen. Thisindicates how much longer it will take a person to get sunburn.
Many people get mistaken by the number on the bottle no thinking that when you choose a number you need to keep in mind the light exposure, the time of the day, the location and the weather conditions.
“Let’s say that Dallas was at the beach and she wasn’t wearing any sunscreen so that means she is unprotected but I also was at thebeach and I was wearing SPF 50 so if she gets sunburn I would take 50 times longer or 500 hundreds minutes to get sunburn.”
Important points:
• You need to put on sunscreen 30 minutes before exposure to the sun.
• You need to re-apply the sunscreen every 2 hours.
• You need about 1 ounce (5-6 teaspoons) of sunscreen to cover your entire body.
The protection from a sunscreen depends onfactors such as:
• The skin type
• The amount applied
• Activities (like swimming uses a lot of sunscreen)
• The amount of sunscreen skin has absorbed
Melanin is a substance in your skin that absorbs the radiation. Some people are born with more melanin in their skin than others. The more melanin you have in your skin the darker your skin will be at the time of the sun exposure becauseit’s the skin defense against the sun rays. There is no such thing as a healthy tan. All tans aren’t good for your body. Tanning products do not contain sunscreen.
Some sunscreens contain Zinc Oxide and Titanium Oxide, these two protect against UVA and UVB rays but Zinc Oxide protects better against UV rays than Titanium Oxide. I found a really important note about sunscreen: When you put on...