If the most direct ray of the sun hits the E at noon, is that where you'd get the greatest tan/burn?

Question

is it??

if not when is?

Answer 1

Yes, it is

Answer 2

no, you get burned most at dawn or dusk. the angle of the rays doesn't really matter. what matters is the strength of Earth's electromagnetic field that the ray travels through.

Answer 3

The highest concentration of UV radiation is when the sun is as close to directly overhead as it can get. This is when there is the lease absorption of UV radiation by the atmosphere because there is less atmosphere for the sunlight to travel through.

This time is called solar noon and depends on your exact location. You can get this information for where you live by plugging in the day and location at this web site.

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_One...

They list the solar noon as the sun transit time which is another way of calling it solar noon.  

Generally the two hour period either side of the solar noon time is considered the most dangerous to burn for those of us who have problems with skin cancer.