How does sunscreen protect skin from sunlight?

Sunscreen

People are worshipers of beauty. More or less we are all aware of form. People also do a lot of skin care. And the most harmful for this skin is the sun's ultraviolet rays. One way to protect yourself from ultraviolet rays is  to use sunscreen or sunblock. The use of sunscreen  or sunblock is more prevalent especially in winter due to the increase in the incidence of ultraviolet rays of the sun . But how does this sunscreen or sunblock protect the skin from the harmful rays of the sun?

Sunscreen

Although these sunscreens and sunblocks sound similar and work similarly, there are some differences in the way they work. Sunscreen is made of organic and inorganic chemicals, which create a coating on the skin. This is why the sun's ultraviolet rays cannot penetrate deep into the skin.

Sunblock  , on the other hand, reflects ultraviolet rays from the skin, making them unable to damage the skin. Because, as a result of reflection, it cannot reach the skin. Sunblock is so reflective because it is made of zinc oxide or titanium oxide. In the past, if someone applied sunblock on the face, it would be understood by looking at it, because the use of oxide in it would make the whole face white. Now that the amount of oxide has been reduced a lot, it is not easy to understand.

Sunblock is a kind of sunscreen. Because all the ingredients of sunblock are present in the middle of sunscreen. So using sunscreen is more useful than using sunblock.

Sunscreen is actually a screen?

Sunscreen basically protects the skin from the ultraviolet rays of sunlight. That is, it acts as a screen for the sun's ultraviolet rays. There are three types of ultraviolet rays

• UV-A rays penetrate deep into the skin and are responsible for skin cancer and skin aging at a young age.
• UV-B rays: It is responsible for darkening and burning of the skin, and in many cases even skin cancer.
• UV-C rays: It is fully absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. So it does no harm to the skin.

The organic ingredients in sunscreen absorb this ultraviolet ray from the sun and expel it from the body in the form of heat. Here are some of the elements that block the ray:

• PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid) and Cinnamates absorb UV-B rays from the sun.
• Benzophenones and Ecamsules absorb the sun's UV-A rays.
• Anthranilates absorb the sun's UV-A and UV-B rays.

What is SPF ?

Sunscreen really comes down to SPF. SPF is the Sun protection factor . This is a number that helps determine how long you can stay in the sun.

The higher the SPF of a sunscreen , the more effective the sunscreen will be against UV-B rays. The idea is that if a person burns their skin after being exposed to the sun for 1 hour without sunscreen, then applying SPF 15 sunscreen on the body will protect the skin from sunburn for 1 hour X 15 = 15 hours. This means that it protects the skin from burns 15 times longer than usual. However, the sun's ultraviolet rays must be radiated in the same amount for 15 hours, which is not the case in general.

References:

1. http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingsworkfaqs/f/sunscreen.htm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunscreen

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