Why it is said that we should not see the solar eclipse with naked eyes?
Ramya Sivaraman
Sunlight is very bright and staring at the Sun directly with the naked eyes at any time (leave alone during an eclipse), even for short duration, would cause severe eye damage and may at worst lead to total blindness. During partial and annular eclipses, the Sunlight is not totally cut and yet it is no less harmful to see the Sun. Though during Total Solar Eclipse, the Sun is invisible and there is no bright light from it, the duration of totality between onset (Second Contact) and outset (Third Contact) is hardly kept in mind. Thus, if we are immersed in seeing the Sun directly during the eclipse, we are very likely to suddenly get exposed to the bright and harmfully intense sunlight when the eclipse starts receding at the third contact. That is the reason why we should not see the Sun directly whether it is the day of eclipse or any other day.
However, it is unscientific to state that special and new harmful light reaches the Earth from the Sun during an eclipse only and it is superstitious to think that pregnant women would deliver babies with orofacial clefts if they come outdoors during eclipses. In some point in space during a solar eclipse, sun light is always obstructed by the Moon because any two points are always on a straight line with surely there will be some other point in space lying collinear away from the Moon.
The rare event of solar eclipse may be seen by wearing safety filters meeting certain strict specifications.
Prof. A Ramachandraiah, NIT, Warangal.
This week’s questions
How do pores on bread slices occur and what are the effects of it?
Y. Anil, Vijayawada
As we know that milk is used as an ingredient in ice-cream. Then why does milk freeze and not ice-cream when we keeps it in freezer?
Shergin Davis, Kanyakumari
