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RE: Sunscreen and UV
For the
white, reflection of UV may not be a valid assumption.
In order to
get a nice bright white, a fluorescent dye is often used, which absorbs the UV
and emits a blue-white color (probably several phosphors, mixed). Laundry
detergent uses it, too, for the same purpose.
Dave
Neil
In a message dated 8/3/02 5:48:33 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
maury@webtexas.com writes:
What should happen if I sprayed the strings with sunscreen?
I have reverted to sticking white adhesive shelf paper in many
window
sections, (works great, but not very attractive) but if I buy
some more
roll-down shades, I plan on trying sunscreen to see what
happens. Have
also wondered about Armor-All or Nu-Vinyl solutions (used
on car
interior plastic sufaces to fend off UV effects)
Maybe those of us who live in
the Southwest (like you and me) should start a business in sun protection and
sun damage prevention.
We just got roll-down screens for our
west-facing windows in order to cut down on the radiant heat in summer -- they
really work, too (we just had insulated blinds before). It is my
experience (and supported by theory) that light colors (off-white, white,
etc.) reflect the light (probably including UV) rather than absorbing it.
The wood trim on our house is painted light yellow and brown, and the
yellow stands up to sunlight much better than the brown. Sand-colored
adobe and stucco seem to stand up well to sun damage. I'd be interested
to know how well the sunscreen works.
In my mountain-climbing days, we
used to smear our noses with zinc-oxide paste (the same stuff you use for
diaper rash) which protected against sunburn just by reflecting the light.
It's pretty unsightly, though.
Ruth
Ruth
Weiner, Ph. D.
ruthweiner@aol.com