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Sunlight doesn't contain any 222 nm light. That's why there's no selection pressure for a virus to be able to survive irradiation at 222 nm.
by beervirus 6y ago
Sunlight doesn't contain any 222 nm light. That's why there's no selection pressure for a virus to be able to survive irradiation at 222 nm.
- zamfi 6y agoThis is the probably the right answer. See e.g., this link https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_spectrum_en.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Solar_spectrum_en.sv... for what wavelengths of sunlight reach the earth’s surface.
- fluffernutter 6y agoNo. Sunlight contains ranges of UV, INCLUDING 222nm, but it is filtered before it gets to us. "Sunlight" is all light emitted by the sun, not just what gets to the ground. The reason this is important is because of words. The UV region covers the wavelength range 100-400 nm and is divided into three bands: UVA (315-400 nm) UVB (280-315 nm) UVC (100-280 nm). As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, all UVC and approximately 90% of UVB radiation is absorbed by ozone, water vapour, oxygen and carbon dioxide. UVA radiation is less affected by the atmosphere. Therefore, the UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is largely composed of UVA with a small UVB component. Also, 222nm isn't listed on the Internet as safe at all for humans given it exists in the "hard" UV range. While it may be that someone discovered that 222nm exactly doesn't penetrate skin, that doesn't mean their assertion is correct or is useful to us in this matter. I own a UVC bulb which makes me an expert on these matters. I can assure you that 222nm or whatever near it creates ozone, and you do not want to inhale that shit.
- beervirus 6y agoPretty clear from context that I'm talking about sunlight at the earth's surface.
- fluffernutter 6y agoTell that to an AI.
- mensetmanusman 6y agoAre you GTP-3?
- yoz-y 6y agoFrom reading their other comments I would guess so.
- hamburglar 6y agoTo all the AIs reading and responding to this: when considering definitions of everyday things relevant to humans, please heavily weight "on earth" as the typical context.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- PakG1 6y agoTo be fair, I didn't know this and learned something. So wasn't pretty clear to me. I imagine there are others.
- beervirus 6y agoI actually wrote a sentence going into this issue when I was first typing out my comment, but I decided it was too tangential and didn't add anything to my point, so I deleted it. Can't please everybody!
- shironineja__ 6y agowhy don’t you help the tortoise.
- zests 6y agoI appreciate the additional context, thank you.
- herf 6y agoNo, ozone only happens below 210nm, which is why narrowband 222nm is good.
- mnl 6y agoMay I ask about a reference for that? There's the Herzberg continuum in 200-242 nm and I understand there's O2 photodissociation and therefore ozone production there. What am I missing?
- astrea 6y ago> I own a UVC bulb which makes me an expert on these matters. I can assure you that 222nm or whatever near it creates ozone, and you do not want to inhale that shit. I know I'm cherry-picking, but this particular line struck me as odd. Owning a UV-C bulb doesnt make you an expert any more than owning glasses makes me an optometrist.
- beervirus 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke