Sunburn facts for kids
A sunburn is a kind of burn that happens when skin is exposed to sunlight for too long. The ultraviolet part of sunlight breaks down natural chemicals in the skin. This makes the skin become red. A sunburn can be painful. Sunburns stay for days or weeks.
People with lighter skin have more sunburns than people with darker skin. This is because of a dark pigment called melanin that protects the skin. There is more of it in dark-skinned people than in light-skinned people. Eventually, if exposed to too much sunlight, skin cancer may develop.
Images for kids
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Blisters on a shoulder caused by sunburn.
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The cause of sunburn is the direct damage that a UVB photon can induce in DNA (left). One of the possible reactions from the excited state is the formation of a thymine-thymine cyclobutane dimer (right).
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Erythemal dose rate at three Northern latitudes. (Divide by 25 to obtain the UV Index.) Source: NOAA.
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Sunburn peeling. The destruction of lower layers of the epidermis causes rapid loss of the top layers.
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Another sunburn peeling.
