Science

13204 readers

4 users here now

Subscribe to see new publications and popular science coverage of current research on your homepage

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Ultraviolet light can kill almost all the viruses in a room. Why isn’t it everywhere? (www.vox.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 55 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Because it also breaks down everything else, like plastic, wood, your skin, your DNA, and then you have cancer.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

At least according to the article, there seems to be some evidence that shorter wavelength UV can’t penetrate deep enough to cause those issues. It gets absorbed by the outer dead skin layer and liquid layer around your eyes.

From what they’re saying, it sounds like the biggest issue now is that UV light creates ozone and smog, which are obviously toxic. And that doesn’t seem to have an obvious solution, in the article they’re basically discussing how much smog is an acceptable trade off

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

uvc doesn't give you cancer, it can't penetrate deep enough, and the type of DNA damage it causes immediately kills the cell so it can't reproduce, cancer is cells that reproduce and don't die.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_germicidal_irradiation