Is sunlight the primary cause of damaging anything?

[kenny1999]

I found a handbag, made of faux leather, together with a plastic zipper bag inside, put somewhere dark and left behind for at least 4 years. They are still perfect. My home is shined with strong sunlight and my personal experience is that in a few months of exposure to sunlight, almost everything starts to go wrong, not to mention faux leather and plastic zipper bags. But they are perfect now. 

I start to wonder

if sunlight is the primary cause of damaging most things, if not everything?

if there is any damage to something put in dark for 100 years, when other conditions are normal, not particularly better or worse?

Expecting any comment.

 

 

 

[John Cuthber]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daedalus

Sunlight is pretty good at damaging organic materials, but doesn't usually harm metals (which reflect it- that helps) and inorganic materials.

[kenny1999]

1 hour ago, John Cuthber said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daedalus

Sunlight is pretty good at damaging organic materials, but doesn't usually harm metals (which reflect it- that helps) and inorganic materials.

Plastic is obviously not organic, I don't know if they are inorganic. Sunlight breaks them in a couple of months.

[Genady]

1 hour ago, kenny1999 said:

Plastic is obviously not organic

How obvious is that?

Quote

Most plastics are organic polymers.

Picking on Plastics | Smithsonian Science Education Center (si.edu)

[Phi for All]

7 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

if sunlight is the primary cause of damaging most things, if not everything?

You'd need to define "damage" better. Is it damaging to have sunlight break down organic material so it can be recycled in the environment? 

Everything? Hardly. Water is a primary cause of some types of "damage". 

[exchemist]

4 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

Plastic is obviously not organic, I don't know if they are inorganic. Sunlight breaks them in a couple of months.

Chemically speaking, plastics are organic, being made of molecules with a carbon/hydrogen backbone.

[zapatos]

4 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

Plastic is obviously not organic, I don't know if they are inorganic. Sunlight breaks them in a couple of months.

Generally speaking, plastics come from crude oil, and crude oil came from plants, algae and bacteria.

[kenny1999]

2 hours ago, Phi for All said:

You'd need to define "damage" better. Is it damaging to have sunlight break down organic material so it can be recycled in the environment? 

Everything? Hardly. Water is a primary cause of some types of "damage". 

I  got some plastic containers or other products put near windows. They cracked or broke into pieces a little bit or faded in color. Weren't they damage?

[Phi for All]

6 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

I  got some plastic containers or other products put near windows. They cracked or broke into pieces a little bit or faded in color. Weren't they damage?

Some plastic containers are meant to be disposable or recyclable, so they need sunlight to help break them down in a process called photodegradation. Is this damage or part of a process? Sunlight forces plants to destroy water and carbon dioxide. Is this damage or part of the photosynthesis process? 

[zapatos]

9 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

I  got some plastic containers or other products put near windows. They cracked or broke into pieces a little bit or faded in color. Weren't they damage?

That is what Phi is asking YOU to decide. "Damage" is in the eye of the beholder. If you were planning to use your plastic container again then you might consider it damaged. If you were planning on tossing it in the trash then it may be performing as designed.

 

[TheVat]

Glass blocks some UV, so a couch left on a sunny porch will fade faster than a couch by a sunny window.  (some modern windows are fully UV-blocking and marketed as not fading upholstery and drapes) 

The exception is some grades of quartz glass, which will pass UV.  You might want that for germicidal purposes, but don't leave your couch near such a window.  

 

[John Cuthber]

11 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

Plastic is obviously not organic,

What's obvious is that only one of us is a chemist.

But, back at the topic; iron rusts perfectly well in the dark, but not in the absence of oxygen.
The ultimate reason why things degrade is entropy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy