Does pointing a flashlight in your eye have the same effect as pointing a laser in your eye?

Question

So I know that when you point a laser in your eye for a certain amount of time that it could cause cataracts and blindness, etc. I wwas wondering if you pointed a flashlight in your eye if it would do the same? Would it perhaps take longer, saying the light is more spread out, instead of pointing all in the same vicinity?

Answer 1

The intensity of a flashlight is far very less than the intensity of laser. The laser light is highly coherent and has a very short wavelength making it extremely powerful than that of flashlight.

Hence flashlight affects your eye less than that of laser.

Answer 2

MUCH less concentrated energy

Answer 3

no it doesnt have the same effect becacuse the photons of laser light have high energies as they are concentrated on to one point which is why it causes blindness.

photons of flash light dont have high energies and are spread out and are not concentrated onto a point

Answer 4

Yes, a bright flashlight could damage your sight. Your vision is protected from bright lights by the pain you feel when you look into them. The reflex to close your eyes and turn away from a bright light source is just fast enough to stop direct sunlight from damaging your retinas (it is only JUST fast enough, which is why you should never look directly at the sun!). You should never look at a light source that causes discomfort as this reflex is quite easy to overcome and is too slow to protect you from extremely bright sources.

Simple rule with bright lights, if it hurts, stop looking at it!

Lasers (the photons of which have the same energy as any light source of the same colour but with the possibility of  much higher intensities, ie more photons for a given area) can damage the eyes extremely quickly over considerable distances because the beam does not spread out, staying roughly the same intensity over long range. Your flashlight however does spread out, lowering the intensity for a given area.