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Radiology => Electromagnetic Radiation => Ultraviolet Radiation
Ultraviolet Radiation
Ultraviolet Radiation, electromagnetic radiation that has wavelengths in the range between 4000 angstrom units (Å), the wavelength of violet light, and 150 Å, the length of X rays. Natural ultraviolet radiation is produced principally by the sun. Ultraviolet radiation is produced artificially by electric-arc lamps .
Ultraviolet radiation is often divided into three categories based on wavelength, UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C. In general shorter wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation are more dangerous to living organisms. UV-A has a wavelength from 4000 Å to about 3150 Å. UV-B occurs at wavelengths from about 3150 Å to about 2800 Å and causes sunburn; prolonged exposure to UV-B over many years can cause skin cancer. UV-C has wavelengths of about 2800 Å to 150 Å and is used to sterilize surfaces because it kills bacteria and viruses.
The earth's atmosphere protects living organisms from the sun's ultraviolet radiation. If all the ultraviolet radiation produced by the sun were allowed to reach the surface of the earth, most life on earth would probably be destroyed. Fortunately, the ozone layer of the atmosphere absorbs almost all of the short-wavelength ultraviolet radiation, and much of the long-wavelength ultraviolet radiation. However, ultraviolet radiation is not entirely harmful; a large portion of the vitamin D that humans and animals need for good health is produced when the human's or animal's skin is irradiated by ultraviolet rays.
When exposed to ultraviolet light, many substances behave differently than when exposed to visible light. For example, when exposed to ultraviolet radiation, certain minerals, dyes, vitamins, natural oils, and other products become fluorescent-that is, they appear to glow. Molecules in the substances absorb the invisible ultraviolet light, become energetic, then shed their excess energy by emitting visible light. As another example, ordinary window glass, transparent to visible light, is opaque to a large portion of ultraviolet rays, particularly ultraviolet rays with short wavelengths. Special-formula glass is transparent to the longer ultraviolet wavelengths, and quartz is transparent to the entire naturally occurring range.
In astronomy, ultraviolet-radiation detectors have been used since the early 1960s on artificial satellites, providing data on stellar objects that cannot be obtained from the earth's surface. An example of such a satellite is the International Ultraviolet Explorer, launched in 1978.
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