# How long did it take for people to figure out Sun-Stare = Blind?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-it-take-for-people-to-figure-out-sun-stare-blind/235793>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 23, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-it-take-for-people-to-figure-out-sun-stare-blind/235793 "2004-03-23T00:11:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-it-take-for-people-to-figure-out-sun-stare-blind/235793/1 "2004-03-23T00:11:58Z")

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Like the title says. I’m not sure how long you have to stare at the sun to go blind or if the process is nearly instantaneous, but how long did it take for people to figure out not to do this? I guess a corollary to this would be: How long did it take for people to figure out not to stare at Solar/Lunar eclipses? Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-it-take-for-people-to-figure-out-sun-stare-blind/235793/2 "2004-03-23T00:19:01Z")

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It’s unpleasant and painful enough that people (like other animals) avoid it by nature.

Urban legends that you may have heard about people taking mind-altering substances and being blinded after “forgetting” not to stare at the sun are just that. In order to pull that off, you’d pretty much have to shut down large parts of your brain after being positioned just so.

Eclipses, on the other hand… I dunno.

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**Author:** ![xvxdarkknightxvx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/34f0e0/32.png) [@xvxdarkknightxvx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xvxdarkknightxvx)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-it-take-for-people-to-figure-out-sun-stare-blind/235793/3 "2004-03-23T00:43:23Z")

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Makes sense. How about in recent times with people and cheap sunglasses? Did anyone go blind from looking at the sun through cheap sunglasses?

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-did-it-take-for-people-to-figure-out-sun-stare-blind/235793/4 "2004-03-23T00:54:58Z")

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[Refer to the Master.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990806.html) 🆒