I walked across the back of a theatre without realizing the projector is there until the light hit my peripheral vision.
Is projector light worse than other kinds of light, like lightbulb or flashlight (I’ve looked at both before)? Does it cause any permanent damage to the eye or its structures? Does proximity matter? I was within 5 feet.
Somehow when I take showers water seems to get stuck in one ear but not the other. (This is unrelated to an infection). I ask how long it should take for the water to fall out if I lie on the other ear, and if the dizziness persists, does that suggest something is preventing the water from exiting such that there is still water in my ear?
No, it is perfectly regular light. It might dazzle you for a moment or two, but it won’t do any harm.
Of course the water will not come out if you lie on the other ear. You should lie on the ear with the water in it, so it is turned downwards. Then there is at least a chance that the water will drain out. If that does not work, and if this is causing you real problems, there are products you can buy to alleviate swimmer’s ear.
Inside that projector is well, a light bulb. It’s not like they’re using lasers, and the days of carbon arc lamps are thankfully, well behind us. Those could harm you as they put out lots of ultraviolet, which would cause sunburn with long exposures, and an eye condition similar to “snow blindness” which is usually temporary unless you do something stupid like continuing to stare at it.
About the only harm you’ll receive for looking into the light of a projector is lumps on your head when the other people in the audience start throwing things at you to make ou sit down.
They do use arc lamps in some projectors, especially large ones (IMAX is an example of this I think). They aren’t carbon arcs that I know of, but certainly include Xenon arc lamps, which do put out lots of ultraviolet.
The projector probably has enough glass in it that is sufficiently opaque to ultraviolet that walking in front of it will give you a trivial exposure, but I’m not completely sure. Sunlight has been filtered through a long path of air, though, and the movie projector hasn’t. If you’re interested, I think there’s still a bit of a question.