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Asked by saima to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 24 Jun 2015.
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Susan Cartwright answered on 24 Jun 2015:
The same way any other burn does: you have damaged the living part of your skin (the bit underneath the outer layer, which is made of dead cells). Tissue damage causes the nerve endings belonging to your pain system (these are dedicated pain nerves, different from the ones that give you your sense of touch) to fire, and you feel the result as pain.
Pain is an important system to warn the body of damage. Sunburn is bad for you (in addition to the immediate damage, it increases the risk of later skin cancer), and the pain system is trying to tell you to get out of the sun, NOW!
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Rebecca Dewey answered on 25 Jun 2015:
The light comes from the sun and is reflected from or absorbed into your skin. The ultra-violet light travels particularly well through the top few layers of your skin so that it is absorbed by the deeper layers. The UV light disrupts the chemical bonds in your DNA and damages it a bit, causing a burn, which turns red and is sore. Melanin is the dark pigment in dark skin or tanned skin (or even moles and freckles on the skin). Melanin absorbs UV light harmlessly and acts to protect the rest of the skin, so darkening of skin in the sun is a defence mechanism the skin uses to protect itself from UV light in the future.
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