U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Yellow tents and UV (was: outdoor gum demo)

Re: Yellow tents and UV (was: outdoor gum demo)



Remember when we were talking a little bit re: this on the Hybrid forum?

So far, I've noticed no change in exposure times from UV Index 4 through UV index 9 when exposing via the sun...

Paul



----- Original Message ----- From: "Loris Medici" <mail@loris.medici.name>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:05 AM
Subject: Re: Yellow tents and UV (was: outdoor gum demo)


I don't understand this at all; does the sun change it's irradiation
spectrum (in terms of UVB, UVA, visible and infra-red) through "our" year?
I don't think so, therefore it's total nonsense to assert (and believe)
"UVA is present with equal intensity during all daylight hours and that it
doesn't vary with season". That would mean that in winter (where we are
farther away from sun) the proportion of UVA in sunlight should have to
increase actually whereas the proportion of UVB, visible light and
infra-red light all should decrease, as shown with the facts that we don't
get sunburnt in the winter (except some extreme conditions such as high
altitude/mountains and highly UV reflecting soil/snow) (UVB), winter sun
is paler (visible), and winter temperatures are lower (infra-red)??? How
come the sun knows that it should act that way -> according to our
year/seasons? ;)

I thought to use the UV index for sun exposures, because I was thinking
UVB and UVA levels are closely related (given there's the same amnt. of
ozone above and the sky is clear) because the irradiation spectrum of the
sun is relatively constant (again in terms of UVB, UVA, visible and
infra-red). I still hold that idea...


21 Nisan 2009, Salı, 8:02 pm tarihinde, Katharine Thayer yazmış:
...

First a comment about  the last paragraph:  Here you're conflating
UVB and UVA.   The rays that cause sunburn are UVB, wavelengths
280-320.  Those rays don't go through glass or any deeper than the
epidermis of the skin, and are of little concern for  gum printers.
UVA (320-400) is the range we're interested in.  UVA is of less
concern for sunburn, passes through glass and through the skin deeper
into the body, and contains the wavelengths we use to print gum.  So
it's something of a logical leap to assume that any observation
related to sunburn might also relate to the fogging of gum emulsions.

...

One last thing: while I was doing this search, I found the answer to
a question that's puzzled me for years.  Conventional wisdom shared
among alternative process workers, at least as I've seen it given on
this list,  that UV varies depending on time of day, season,
location.  So it's always puzzled me that on the northwest coast of
the US, an area not noted for its high UV levels to start with, I
could expose a gum print in the sun in less than a minute, same time
in summer or in winter.  That didn't make sense to me, until this
weekend when I learned from a skin cancer foundation site that it's
just UVB, the kind that's not useful for gum printing, that varies by
season, location and time of day.  UVA, the UV we're interested in,
is "present with equal intensity during all daylight hours throughout
the year."