How quickly would we all die if the sun managed to melt through the?
q: If the ozone layer disappeared, how long would it take for a human standing out in the sun to die? a: Quite a while. The damage done by UV is that it delivers enough energy to disrupt the skins DNA molecules mutations will happen and skin cancer becomes highly likely. The period from onset of malignant melanoma to death can be quite long. Melanoma already accounts for about 1% of all skin cancers diagnosed in the United States, but it causes most of the skin cancer deaths. Since melanomas are aggressively treated, ill use one examples survival rate of 80% after 5 years. Flip that around to 20% of the population will be dead in 5 years. (ref: Melanoma - Statistics) A further kicker is that the UV will also be causing genetic damage to all other plants and animals. If you dont like the idea of GMO (genetically modified organiams), the entire planet will soon be teeming with them. If you do just stand there, youll also develop a fairly painful sunburn. If you wait long enough it will progress to 3rd degree or more, enough of which can also kill you.