• Question: Why is it that you can be blinded by the light from the sun?

    Asked by Ayayai to Hayley, Jimi on 18 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 18 Mar 2016:

      The sun is a very very strong object! The light is made up of different wavelengths of light and some of them are very strong – too strong for our eyes to be able to cope with. The light can cause damage to our precious cells if they are not protected. The light can break down the back of our eye as well as do damage to the front of our eyes and the light can go through the eye without any barriers.

    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 18 Mar 2016:

      There are chemicals in the cells in your eyes that absorb the light (called bleaching) and makes a signal to send to the brain. After a molecule of this chemical absorbs some light, it needs to be “reset”. Normally, there are enough molecules in the reset state for your to see, even though some of them are bleached. But if you look at the sun, there’s enough light to bleach all the molecules at once… so you can’t see anything after that until the molecules eventually get reset.

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