Why do I have to wear strange glasses during the eclipse?

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Well you don't have to wear glasses during the eclipse if you don't look directly at the sun. But if you think you'll be inclined to stare at it, then you'd better find some. 

I read about a person who looked at the sun for about 20 seconds during an eclipse and it caused irreversible damage to a spot on both retinas. Afterwards he could look at a face, for instance, and not be able to see the nose. 

So why is this? You know how you can use a magnifying glass with the sun to start a fire? It's the same principle with an eclipse. The suns rays pass through our lenses and burn a place on our retinas. It's not a good thing.  

Do you have to use the funky disposable glasses?

No. You could wear a welder's mask. Wouldn't that be a sight!

Some have surmised that you could look through the door of a microwave oven but I have my doubts about that! 

And they also make more fashionable glasses, too, if you want to spend some bucks on them. 

Let's say you don't have any glasses. Can you still see the eclipse?

Yes. Do you remember the pinhole in the paper trick? Take a piece of paper and stick a pin in the middle of it somewhere. Hold the paper parallel to a sidewalk and let the sun's rays pass through the hole and onto the ground. You'll see a white dot. That's the sun. Then as the moon comes across the sun, you'll see a black semicircle move across your sidewalk sun dot. It's pretty cool. 

Above all, be safe on Monday. And enjoy the view!