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- The colour of a human’s skin depends on how much melanin there is in their skin.
- Melanin is the pigment that gives your skin its colour.
- The more melanin you have in your skin the darker it is and the less melanin the lighter it is.
- Melanin also helps protect your skin from the sun
- People who’s ancestors lived in very hot places, close to the equator where there was a lot of strong sunlight will have more melanin in their skin so they will have dark skin.
- People who’s ancestors lived in cold places, far away from the equator where there was not a lot of strong sunlight will have less melanin in their skin so they will have light skin.
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- The equator is the name given to the invisible line that runs around the middle of the earth between the North and South Poles
- The sun’s rays fall directly on the equator so the sunlight is stronger.
- Nearer the Poles the sun’s rays fall on the earth at an angle so the sunlight isn’t as strong.
- Although melanin helps protect your skin from the sun even dark skinned people need to use sun block to protect themselves from the UV rays in the sunlight
- Some people have little or no melanin in their skin and their skin and hair is completely white – they’re called albinos.
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- How much melanin do you have in your skin?
- Compare your skin to the skin of members of your family and to your friends in your classroom. Do you have a lot of melanin and have dark skin or do you have less melanin and have fair skin.
- Find out where the ancestors of each of your friends come from and see how that has affected the colour of their skin.
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- Find the equator on a globe and look at all the countries near the equator. Think about the people that live in those countries and what those countries are like. Would there be a lot of rain and cold temperatures or even snow in those countries? What would the weather be like and how does that affect the skin of the people living there?
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