By : Blake Salesin Keaton Vogel Zinc and Sunscreen

Goal  Our aim for this project was to inform about what minerals in sunscreen help protect our skin from UVA and UVB rays. These rays are bad for for your skin.  Objective: Find out what minerals in sunscreen are protective for the skin? Find out why zinc oxide(the major mineral in sunscreen) is protective for your skin? Finish research and start powerpoint.

UVA and UVB Rays  UVA rays can age us and UVB rays can burn us.  Overexposure to either can damage the skin.  UVA rays aren't what burn your skin, they make your skin wrinkly, dry.  The main reason of sunscreen is to block these harmful rays.  UVB rays Burn our skin.  Zincite (zinc oxide) was discovered to protect against these rays in the early 1900s.  Protection against these rays is can prevent skin cancer and other harmful cancers and diseases.

What to know about Zincite and Zinc  Zinc oxide sunscreens are physical sunscreens. This means they create a layer of protection over your skin that reflects UVA and UVB rays.  They do not allow light to pass through to your skin where the radiation can burn/age your skin.  The mineral zinc is compounded into a white powder, known as zinc oxide to blend with the sunscreen.  Zinc oxide is a chemical.  The zinc oxide creates a layer of protection.  Zinc is a relatively soft material with approximate hardness of 4.5  Zinc the mineral, is a very reflective mineral.  It's extremely difficult to burn through it.  It has the broadest UV protective spectrum.

How Zincite Protects Your Skin  The Zincite Sunscreen looks white because it does indeed reflect and scatter visible light.  The zincite absorbs UV radiation, a process of electron excitation called band-gap absorption (Self Explanatory Meaning)  The electrons in zincite cycle up and down the sunscreened area and reflect the harmful rays.  Since energy always has to go somewhere, and UV is very strong, zinc oxide absorbs UV radiation and turns it into a harmless infrared.  Then it disposes of it as heat.  Zinc oxide has a strong room-temperature luminescence.

How Zincite Protects Your Skin Part 2  Zincite emerges applications for transparent electrodes to fight UV.  Applying a large mass of Zinc Oxide sunscreen is like trying to burn through a rock with a 5.5 solidity.  Utilized as anticorrosive coating in sunscreen.  Nearly transparent to visible light.  Allows for no whitening of the skin, even when used in high concentrations.

How Our Question Evolved  Our project started as the question “how minerals are good for our skin?”. Then the question evolved to “what minerals are in sunscreen that help protect our skin?”. Then finally we settled on the question “What is Zinc Oxide and why is it so protective for our Skin?”. This process was long, but we are happy we chose this question.

Wrap-Up  Some obstacles we had to face were to find credible websites. We had to concentrate during class. We had to make sure that we can get the project done with the allotted time.  In the beginning of the project, we had a hard time deciding on our original question. Also, once we decided on a question it was too broad and we had to narrow it down and make it more specific.  We have answered our original question and more. We have learned about what minerals were good for our skin with dryness, UVA and UBA. We expanded it to learn about what different products are used in different brands of sunscreen.

Daily Log  3/20/15- Began research on what minerals are in sunscreen and started journal on wiki.  3/23/15- Researched in class about UVA rays and UBA rays. Researched what effect does the rays have on your skin.  3/24/15- Researched why zinc oxide is in sunscreen. Started the powerpoint.  3/26/15- Finished final research about zinc oxide and different products of sunscreen. Continued on the powerpoint.  3/27/15- Today we finished the powerpoint. We organized all of the slide in the order we feel is right and we feel confident in our project.  3/30/15- Present powerpoint.:)

Sources  1. "How Does Zinc Oxide Work in Terms of UV Protection? | Kabana Organic Skin Care." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar  2."Zinc Oxide." - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar  3. "Absorption of Light." Absorption of Light. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar  4. "Zinc Oxide Sunscreen & Nanoparticles." Zinc Oxide Sunscreen & Nanoparticles. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar