Why some people say looking at the sun during an eclipse is more dangerous than looking at it directly?

Question

Why some people say looking at the sun during an eclipse is more dangerous than looking at it directly?

Answer 1

Because during an eclipse the brightness of the Sun can catch you by surprise.

The Moon blots out the disc of the Sun. The faint corona is revealed, the sky darkens, and your eyes adapt accordingly by dilating the pupils to allow more light in and starting to synthesise more light-sensitve pigments. As you look directly at the total eclipse, your eyes are more light sensitive. As the Moon moves, suddenly the Sun's disc is revealed again and the full brightness of the Sun goes straight into your dilated, sensitised eyes, increasing the risk of damage because you were not expecting it. Ever had someone turn a light on in a pitch dark room after you've been in darkness for some time? It hurst, right? You s***w up your eyes against the glare. Now mulitiply that by a million or so and you have the feeling as the full brightness of the Sun is instantly focused on your retina after you've got used to a dimmer sky.

Answer 2

bcuz they are fools who feel the need to sound important.

the issue during an eclipse is that it gets pretty obvious toward totality that something is going on. the light looks weird, the shadows look weird, things start feeling creepy (you would know this if you had seen one). ppl stare at teh sun to try to see what is happening and hurt their eyes.

with correct precautions you can observe the sun safely any time you like, eclipse or not. during totality you don't need any protection at all. it's really cool.

Answer 3

Evolution guaranteed that you (and the other animals) never look at the sun -- because it would blind you.  During a solar eclipse the same is true, but your natural reaction to look away isnt powerful enough to engage your self protective mechanism.

When you look at a crescent sun, the part of the sun that hits your retina is every bit as dangerous as the full sun, but will damage  a smaller portion of your eye.  Of course if you look away fast enough, it wont hurt you, but you have to look at it no longer than you would if you were starring at a full sun.  The dangerous part is that you will be tempted to not look away fast enough.