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Asked by hannahhhhh to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 24 Jun 2013.
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Sam Horrell answered on 24 Jun 2013:
We tan when we go out in the sun because our skin produces a pigment called melanin which protects the skin by absorbing the suns uv radiation. This is a way of protecting our cells from DNA damage. If you get too much sun too quickly this is when you get burned because you can’t produce the melanin quickly enough.
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David Briggs answered on 24 Jun 2013:
We tan because our skin is reacting to the hot sunlight – it produces melanin which is a protection mechanism against the sun’s harmful UV rays, which can damage our DNA and increase out risk of getting cancer.
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Susana Teixeira answered on 27 Jun 2013:
We spend more time outside on holiday – usually! – and so we expose our skin to the sun more.
The sun has UV radiation that stimulates the production of melanin, the pigment that gives our skin colour. Melanin can absorb sunlight instead of other molecules, like DNA, which can get damaged. So we tan because our bodies are protecting themselves from the sun 🙂
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