Timeline for How can I explain to my son why sunlight will hurt his eyes?
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| Feb 11, 2016 at 13:46 | comment | added | Luaan | But that's the point - the pupil isn't dark. It's just a window, and it lets all the (visible) light through. The reason it appears dark is that very little visible light leaves the eye, compared to how much is "reflected" from the parts around the pupil. It's about contrast, not absolutes. Your eye is perfectly capable of handling the intensity of visible and infrared light it receives when looking directly at the sun on a clear blue sky as long as you don't mess with eye's adaptation (e.g. looking through a pinhole, or during an eclipse). It's the UV light that harms your eye. | |
| Feb 11, 2016 at 13:38 | comment | added | SpaceTrucker | @Luaan is it really relevant for a 30 month old to know that there is something behind the dark coloured pupil he is able to see in the mirror? The effect is the same whether it is the sun glasses, the wood or the eye - the darker it's color is the hotter it gets in the sun. | |
| Feb 11, 2016 at 13:03 | comment | added | Luaan | Except that your eyes aren't dark coloured. The dominant colour of your retina is red, from the blood. The pupils look dark, because they're a window to a room with very little light, basically. That's what causes the "red eye" effect when using a flash camera - suddenly, a lot more light hits your retina and reflects (well, diffuses) back out, resulting in red pupils. The same principle makes sunglasses appear black - and yet you use them for shielding your eyes from the Sun, don't you? :) | |
| Feb 10, 2016 at 9:05 | review | First posts | |||
| Feb 10, 2016 at 18:54 | |||||
| Feb 10, 2016 at 9:02 | history | answered | SpaceTrucker | CC BY-SA 3.0 |