[masraum]

Originally Posted by Aurel

Is it more damaging for the eyes to look at an eclipse than to look at the sun without eclipse?
If that is the case I’d like to understand why. I have looked at the sun before, and my eyes are just fine…

Originally Posted by flatbutt

You may look at the sun at the point of totality without filter and be fine. Anytime other than totality you must use a filter.

Yep, but I get what he's saying. I've looked at the sun before, and I can still see.

I'm going to take a guess here.

I looked at the sun as a kid. I was squinting (it was bright) and I suspect kid eyes will stop down to allow very little light in through very small pupils. Also, if you look a the sun, it's normally only for a very short period quick glance.

I suspect as an adult our pupils won't contract as small as when we are young. Also, if you're watching an eclipse, you're likely to look at the sun for a (relatively) LONG time compared to a quick glance. Also, as an adult, our pain threshold is different than when younger. I'm sure plenty of us have been working on something, felt something (or maybe didn't even realize that we felt something) and then looked down to realize that we had blood running out of some cut or scratch or scrape, because as an adult you're thinking "yeah, I felt that, but this crap's got to get done."

I think the main problem is that folks watching an eclipse are likely to look at the sun for a much longer time than someone that looks up at the sun and think's "I glanced at the sun for 0.1 second and I'm not blind."