We spend our lives in visible light without risks to our health. Yet exposure to UV waves in sunlight can cause skin cancer. What is the BEST explanation for this?

AUV waves are longer and carry more energy.
BUV waves are higher frequency and carry more energy.
CUV waves have a lower frequency and carry more energy.
DUV waves travel faster than visible light and have more energy.

UV waves are higher frequency and carry more energy
causing exposure to UV waves in sunlight to skin cancer. This is a type of
electromagnetic radiation similar to the waves of the radio, infrared, x-rays
and gamma. All of which comes from the sun however cannot be seen by a human
eye. People use these rays for tanning however if it is overdone, it may cause
skin problems.

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skyluke89 skyluke89 · Answer 2 · 2018-07-02T05:00:34-04:00

The correct answer is
B) UV waves are higher frequency and carry more energy.

In fact, UV waves have higher frequency than visible light. For comparison, visible light has frequency in the range 430-770 THz ($10^{12} Hz$), while ultraviolets (UV) have frequency higher than these values (at the order of 1 PHz, $1\cdot 10^{15}Hz$).

The energy of electromagnetic radiation is proportional to its frequency, according to the equation
$E=hf$
where h is the Planck constant and f is the frequency. We see that the higher the frequency, the greater the energy, so UV waves carry more energy than visible light.