Ray's 250W Lights May Be Dangerous To Eyes

rei

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Then you need to be extremely close. Much closer than you could comfortably keep any body part. Remember the sunlight is 1000W / m^2 and it contains much more blue light than incandescent. You would not want to stare into incandescent, for such use you need pure red light.

Incandescent 250W is at most able to output something like 25-50W in radiation and of that 12.5W in visible light.
 
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Then you need to be extremely close. Much closer than you could comfortably keep any body part. Remember the sunlight is 1000W / m^2 and it contains much more blue light than incandescent. You would not want to stare into incandescent, for such use you need pure red light.

Incandescent 250W is at most able to output something like 25-50W in radiation and of that 12.5W in visible light.

Makes sense, thanks. So how close do you think it is safe to have ones face from a 250W?
 

rei

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as close as is comfortable, just don't stare into it. There can be no danger to the skin and you won't be overdosing on the ~650nm red or any other wavelength either.
 

retroactive

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I don't think its recommended to stare directly at the lights. With eyes closed for example i think its fine
 

RealNeat

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HI
My cat not only stares right into the red 250w bulb but goes and touches his nose to it. Hes not a dumb cat, but this behavior is curious and though it doesnt seem to bother him I usually take him away after my own discomfort and worry of his actions build up.

To me it simply makes sense not to look into something that is so bright that it blurs out your vision, i think thats a safe bet. One worry that may be there in artificial home lights is the concentration of light rather than its diffuse presence, as in the sky.

When the sun is stared at to cause vision damage, its mainly because of its concentrated light, depending on time of day the radiation changes its penetration of the atmosphere, making it more or less dangerous. But certain wavelengths of high intensity blue/purple edging on UV (the ambient light of the sun) can actually halt myopia. Wearing sunglasses and UV filtering lenses doesnt seem like a smart thing for our biology unless one is on a pure PUFA diet.
 

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