UV Light: from sunshine to sunbeds

Consider your sunburn from those hot days in summer; from that time you fell asleep in the brilliant sun. Remember now? You blamed it on the sun screen not working. But what you didn’t know then was ultraviolet light is responsible for causing the painful, blistering-sensation on your skin known as a sun burn. Even though the Earth's atmosphere (stratosphere and ozone layer) shields the surface of the Earth from most of the ultraviolet rays that come from the sun, the rays can still peak through and leave an aching reminder. So be sure to use your sunscreen because those reminders could turn into something more dangerous: cancer. The light damages the skin and can become cancerous cells. The cells will have to be removed before they spread!

Ultraviolet light is created when an electron bounces from one level of energy to the next. The sun provides the main source of UV light for us, but there are other ways to have ultraviolet light. One way is in a sunbed. They are designed to leave the victim with a tan. The danger of a tanning bed is that it can also lead to health risks such as cancer. Another way you can see ultraviolet light is with a black light. It emits near ultraviolet light (you will learn about it later) to make objects under the light fluorescent (or glow in the dark).

The photo above was taken of the Earth in ultraviolet light. The basic definition for ultra violet light is light not visible to the human eye, which is why you can’t see yourself sun burning until you’re as red as a lobster! Interestingly enough, some animals can see the light, such as bumble bees. Animals use this light, or the resonace (when the natural and the forced frequencies match up at the same time) to communicate with eachother, such as a fish searching for his friend in an ocean. The ultraviolet light is only a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, or “the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation”. The frequency range for an ultraviolet light is 2.4 X 10^23 Hz to 1 kHz. The range of wavelengths is about 10nm to 400nm, or about the size of a single virus, like when you get sick. Although the wavelength is very small, scientists have determined there are three parts to the ultraviolet section of the spectrum: the near ultraviolet (NUV), the far ultraviolet (FUV), and the extreme ultraviolet (EUV). The difference between the three divisions can be distinguished by the wavelength of the ultraviolet light, and how energetic the radiation is. NUV is the closest portion of ultraviolet light to visible light. EUV is closest to X-rays type of light, and is the most energetic of all three types of ultraviolet light. FUV is in between EUV and NUV as far as energy, and has not been researched as well as the other two sections.

Picture One: Electromagnetic Spectrum

Picture Two: The Earth in UV Light

WORK CITED:

"The Electromagnetc Spectrum." National Aeronautics and Space Administration. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 

     Mar. 2010. . 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2010. 

     . 

Standford Solar Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2010. 
     uv.html>. 

Garden of White Roses

Dental Hygienists work within the patient: cleaning and scrubbing away mistakes on the little daggers in the mouth. For a dentist, the mouth is a garden; some of the sparkling White Roses are beautiful and bright, while others have withered away to dingy, yellow spotted, with all the petals dropped. It is dentist’s jobs, no, their duties to keep your garden safe from all the bugs (candy and junk food) and things that can eat away at your White Roses (teeth).

Image: Wikipedia

Dentist have to endure eight years of college in most cases to get a degree; four years in undergrad, and then another four years in dental school. The major tasks a dentist does includes but not limits to healing mouths, educating patients, fixing teeth, and also broken mouths so they can function properly. Some of the tools they use consist of a hand mirror (see picture below), drills, local anesthesia (to numb the mouth), probes, and retractors that keep your mouth open.

Image: Google Images

Some progeny aspire to become involved with the church to help the needy: and homeless. Some wish to enroll in school to become a professor and help others learn. Those types of jobs afford the opportunity to help a percent of the world; not every person needs help from a church to stay alive, and not everyone is college material. However, I wish to help all that can be helped by becoming a dentist.

As a child, I did not like to brush my teeth: one of the most important rules to follow for perfect Roses. As my years grew, I realized the significance of using the brush to shower the teeth in a sanitizing bath. I want to extend my knowledge and teachings to others once I have taught myself.

I am a visual learner, so dentistry is good because of all the graphs, molds, and charts. I also enjoy helping others so being a dentist is perfect because I can correct other’s mouths and teeth.

Maintaining the characteristics of who I am and incorporating them into my profession is essential to me. Helping others allows me to help myself. It builds self-esteem, confidence, and happiness for not only the patient but also the dentist. Dentist help others by leading a good example, guiding those of bad habits to good ones, setting new goals, oh, and cleaning the teeth.

I hope to become a dentist in the future. By then the technology will have enhanced greatly, drastically exceeding the tools used today. That means helping people more! It will most likely become an occupation that people have to visit less and less as the time passes and technology advances’. But my goal is to help others even if it’s as effortless as putting tooth paste on a tooth brush or protecting a White Rose.

Information from: Dr. Beth Loew

Explosive Contact

Picture from Mark D. Robert's website

Could using your cellular device while pumping gas into your vehicle put you in danger? This myth started circulating the Internet in 1999 when there was talk of an incident in Indonesia in which a driver was horribly burned and his car destroyed because he was chatting with a friend using his cell phone at the gasoline pumps. Suspiciously, no more information about the accident was posted to the media. Although there was an article in the Bangkok Post about another accident much like the first, occurring in China, many scientists are determined to find the correct answer. So is it true or false?

Picture from: Snopes Website

The question relies mostly on whether or not cell phones can create enough static electricity to ignite the fumes of the gasoline present at a gas station. Static electricity occurs when there is a large amount or a build up of electric charge on an object—or in this case, a person. Can one little device cause a catastrophic fire and put people in grave danger?

This legend is surprisingly false! The National Research Center for Woman and Families (NRCWF) website states that there had been incidents where victims claimed that the cause of the fire at the gas station was the product of their cell phones, but no information had gone any further than the internet. They recommend as a precaution to turn off cell phones or leave them in the car while pumping gas, although it is not necessary. The NRCWF never found that cell phones are the cause of fires. PEI webpage says that they have never recorded a single incident of a cell phone causing a gas station fire. These rumors are spreading through the Internet and E-mail like fire in a dry field. They are 100% untrue, and should be ignored. It is now a known fact that cell phones do not cause enough static electricity to produce fires in gas stations.