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Windows and Tanning
Q: Can you get a tan through a window? My girlfriends and I have been arguing about this all day. We need to know!
A: Well, whomever among you were arguing that you CAN get a tan through a window is correct. Glass filters out some of the shorter wave
Ultraviolet (UV) light, but allows longer wavelengths of UV light to pass through. This UV light can still cause sunburn and tanning of
the skin, but it takes longer to generate the effect. Think of glass as a type of sunscreen: it protects you from some UV rays, but
isn’t perfect protection.
It should also be noted that while glass does filter UVB rays (those responsible for burning
the skin and tanning), the UVA radiation is not blocked and these rays are the ones responsible for the more long-term damage to the
skin, such as cellular breakdown (aging effects) and even cancers.
Finally, another factor to consider is that the answer depends on the specific make-up of the
glass being used. Some types of glass are made with specific UV coatings and UV filtering ingredients which can increase their
effectiveness in filtering both UVA and UVB radiation. Sometimes this glass is marked with symbols and labeling to denote its
UV-Protectant status. However, its not usually easy to find this information unless you know the specifics of the construction of a
building or the immediate environs. So, while you can say that glass provides some UV protection, you cannot be certain of the level
of protection being provided.
{Note: Special thanks goes to Louis A. Bloomfield, author of “How Everything Works: Making
Physics Out of the Ordinary” for the answer to this question, via the University of Virginia website.}
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