Why do we need to protect our eyes from solar eclipses? Any good website sources?

Answer 1

The sun is an extremely
intense source of light - both visible and invisible (infrared and ultraviolet). It is so
intense that when sunlight shines on our skin we feel warmth although the sun is 150
million km away from us! The lens of the eye acts as a magnifying glass. It produces tiny
images on the retina of what we are viewing, with a concentration factor of about 10
000. During direct viewing of the sun, for even a few seconds, the light entering the eye
is concentrated to the point that it can burn the cells of the retina. The cells are
destroyed beyond any hope of healing and that part of the retina becomes blind.
http://www.who.int/uv/resources/fact/en/fs228solareclipses.pdf

Answer 2

"Even when 99% of the Sun's surface is obscured during the partial phases of a total eclipse, the remaining photospheric crescent is intensely bright and cannot be viewed safely without eye protection [Chou, 1981; Marsh, 1982]. "

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/safety.html

Answer 3

Because even though it is an eclipse, parts of the sun are still visible and staring at the sun will burn your retinas.

Answer 4

Because even though most of the sunlight is blocked, enough UV (ultraviolet) light still reaches your eyes to damage them.

Answer 5

Sunlight will burn your retina. even during an eclipse, there's still enough direct sunlight to do so.

Answer 6

even though the sun is mostly blocked, its still shining a ridiculous amount of uv radiation and really intense visible light. even in small doses, it could devastate our eyes

Answer 7

because youll burn your eyes out of your sockets. or maybe your right, its all a load of nonsense and you should be given the degrees and phds the scientists worked so hard for because you scratched your head about it for about a minute and couldnt work it out.