Can You Look At Eclipse with Welding Mask?

An eclipse is a rare event that occurs after 18 months on Earth. But it appears in the same area after years or so. Some of us are love to look at a solar eclipse, but it's not a good practice to look without any protection. Moreover, some of us have a line of work that puts them in to direct path of eclipse or sun. So what if they don't have the proper protection for eye care? There are protective glasses available that help safely looks at the solar eclipse, but they are hard to find. So you may be wondering about the right way of protection?

Can you look at an eclipse or the sun with a welding mask? Yes, you can look at an eclipse by wearing the welding mask but ensure that they are above the shade 12. According to NASA, a welding mask less than shade 12 cannot protect your eyes from eclipse or sun rays. Keep in mind that readily available welding masks in the market are minimum shade darkness 12.

Can You Watch a Solar Eclipse with a Welding Helmet?

You can watch the solar eclipse or sun with a welding mask, but you need to follow some requirements and precautions. NASA provides adequate conditions to look at the solar eclipse as it has dangerous rays for your eyes. Moreover, it is best to have the correct shading of a welding mask that provides the proper coverage to your eyes.

So let's look at the NASA recommendations and all other requirements to look at the eclipse by wearing a welding mask.

NASA Recommendations

NASA provides particular recommendations regarding solar eclipse protective glasses and welding masks. According to NASA, the only welder helmet safe for looking at the eclipse is above shade 12. This shade is much darker than the ordinary welding masks.

Moreover, NASA issued a safety alert about unsafe eclipse glasses that unethical companies distribute. So, NASA recommends using the ISO 12312-2 safety standard printed glasses available by the four reputed companies. These companies include American Paper Optics, Rainbow Symphony, TSE 17, and Thousands Oaks Optical. However, according to NASA, it is safe to get the eclipse protection glasses from a safe source, or if you use the welding helmet, it must be of the right shade level.

ISO Requirements for Glasses

Many places claim to have the best eclipse glasses. But it is recommendable to look for the ISO safety requirements even if the product claim as sun-protective or eclipse glasses. ISO set some safety requirements for the glasses to ensure your eye protection.

So ISO standard solar eclipse must have specific requirements that include:

• Glasses filters must be clean and free from scratches, bubbles, dents, or any other defects.
• It must be large enough to provide complete coverage to both glasses.
• Not more than 0.00032 percent of light can pass through the glasses filters.
• The packaging label must have the manufacturer's name, warnings for dangers, and instructions for safe use.

So the glass that claims to be eclipse protective must fulfill these ISO rating to get the safety label by International Organization for Standardization.

The Right Shading

The correct shading for a solar eclipse is above 12. It is best if you have the shade 14 welding mask. According to researches, it is clear that low to medium shading is not enough to protect your eyes. However, shade 14 is the darkest shade in the welding mask that is the best to look at a solar eclipse. This solar filter or shade is darkest built for the extreme welding environment, so it is not readily available. These welding masks didn't allow to stare at the sun for a long period of time unless it is in its entire eclipse state.

Proper Coverage

Welding helmets or welding masks are beneficial as they provide complete coverage to your eyes while looking at the solar eclipse. It protects the whole surface area of your eyes and skin and reduces the chances of radiation interaction that can cause damage. So if you look at the sun by using any other method, ensure that their lenses are wide enough to provide complete coverage.

Correct Method of Viewing

To look at the sun using a true color welding mask, you need to follow the correct method. Ensure that you put on the modern welding helmet before start looking at the sun. Don't look at the sun before wearing the mask, and don't take it off when you look at the eclipse to get a clear view.

How Do Welding Masks Protect Your Eyes?

Welding masks are used to protect the eyes during welding. But if you use it in the right shade to look at the sun, it will also protect your eyes from eclipse rays. The solar eclipse produces specific dangerous rays that are irreversible. So you must wear the eclipse protective glasses or the welding mask in the shade above 12.

Welding masks are available in various varieties and shapes that give different levels of protection. So it is advisable to get good welding masks.

It helps to protect your eyes by providing complete coverage from sun rays. These rays are dangerous. It doesn't show the consequences immediately, but the danger is still there.

So let's look at how auto welding masks and fixed shaded welding masks protect your eyes while looking at the eclipse.

Auto-Darkening Welding Masks

Auto-darkening welding helmets are the best suitable form of welding helmets for welders. It automatically adjusts the shade according to the active state of light when it is unsuitable for the eyes or can cause permanent damage. These auto-darkening welding helmets change the shade when an arc of light start emitting. Auto-darkening helmets have the Liquid Crystal Display technology that quickly changes its LCD. These true-color welding helmets protect eyes during welding from the emission of harmful lights and darken the shade in small milestones according to o requirement. These welding helmets are darker than general welding helmets used during most types of welding.

Auto-darkening helmets provide a clear view with quick material set up when you start looking at an eclipse or doing the welding task. It has enhanced eye protection because the user didn't require a stop and start time to readjust it. Moreover, this welding helmet protects your eyes from UV damage.

Fixed Shaded Welding Masks

Fixed shade welding masks have a specific shade of shield to protect the eyes. To look at the eclipse, you need to have the above 12 shade-like shade 14 welding helmet. So it has the fixed shade according to the task. However, it blocks the eclipse rays when you look at the sun and protect your eyes. So make sure you have the right shade of highly-rated welding masks that provides the proper protection from dangerous rays.

How Solar Eclipse Glasses Work?

Solar eclipse glasses have the primary goal of protecting your eyes from dangerous rays. It has different material types, but it is not similar to ordinary sunglasses. They can block only 10 to 20 percent of daylight and ultraviolet rays. However, visible light can still pass through traditional sunglasses if you think that your sunglasses can block 10 to 20 percent of ultraviolet rays, so they also protect the solar eclipse. But it is not valid your sunglasses didn't protect your eyes from vision damage.

Solar eclipse glasses provide complete protection by having accurate material. It has 10000 times darker shades than sunglasses. The material used for making solar eclipse glasses consists of a black polymer, a flexible resin, and then infused with carbon particles. The black polymer has significant strength to block the ultraviolet rays from the solar eclipse and can cause extensive eye damage. It doesn't mean only bloc the sun rays but also protects eyes from all dangers from visible light.

The construction difference in sunglasses and solar eclipse is a key to differentiate between each and their working.

When you look at the solar eclipse through solar eclipse glasses, you will see the moon shadow over the sun and sun rays surround the moon. However, you will see the sky and covering it with regular sunglasses and much more. So you can see the sky but also harm your eyes.

Solar eclipse Ultraviolet rays can burn your eye cornea's outer cell and significantly affect the retina and macula of the eye. Solar eclipse glasses protect the corneal damage, retinal damage, and macular damage of the eye more than any other sunglasses.

So solar eclipse glasses have specific shades and protection range to eyes that block all the ultraviolet rays. It will help you ensure that your eyes are safe even if you are looking at the solar eclipse.

Why Viewing A Solar Eclipse Without Eye Protection Is Dangerous?

Looking at the solar eclipse without sufficient eye protection is dangerous for the eyes as it emits damaging Ultraviolet rays. It can cause solar retinopathy, leading to permanent blind spots in your vision. Many peoples have the misconception that most of the sun's light is covered in a solar eclipse, so it is safe to look at it without wearing any protection shield. However, solar eclipse traditions are more dangerous than the sun's rays. Moreover, some people also phase the solar retinopathy condition because they think there is no need to wear solar eclipse glasses and use ordinary sunglasses to protect your eyes.

These all are dangerous misconceptions that lead to severe damage to the eyes. Ensure that you and your surrounding personals must wear solar safety glasses and don't risk looking at the eclipse without wearing glasses.

Moreover, a solar eclipse is a partial or complete eclipse, but both are dangerous for your eyes.

Partial solar eclipse

Partial solar eclipse refers to the stage when the moon does not completely cover the sun. The half-moon is under the sun, and half is in its natural state. But there is no safe point to look at the eclipse without protective glasses and think it is secure.

A partial eclipse is dangerous because it has partially obscured rays that can cause damage to bare eyes. The human eye uses the lenses, retina, and cornea to see around the world. Its mechanism is more like magnifying glasses. However, the lens can focus the sun rays and cause severe damages that might not appear at that time, but these damages are still there. Even the sun is not partially eclipsed, but the sunlight has the potential to hurt your eyesight seriously.

Total solar eclipse

There is one period of the eclipse when the moon completely covers sun rays and block dangerous radiation. But this period is concise for approximately one to two minutes. It is the natural phenomena of the solar eclipse that many think is safe for human eyes. But it is not safe as you don't know when this period over and dangerous rays pass into your eyes.

However, it is safe to wear protection glasses even when there is a complete solar eclipse. If you intend to look at the solar eclipse without glasses, ensure that you have comprehensive research of the time to look at the total solar eclipse.

The Consequences Of Staring Directly At The Sun

You may also listen that if you look at the sun without protective measures for a long time, it will make you completely blind for the rest of your life. It is valid, but it has few stages to get completely blind. First of all, you feel the injury or discomfort in your eyes and the sunburn of your eyes. Sunburn only appears if you stare at the sun for too long time.

Moreover, the sun has three light types.

• Visible light
• Infrared light
• Ultraviolet light

Ultraviolet lights are most dangerous for the eye, particularly the UVA and UVB lights. However, we have the delicate layers in our eyes that eventually burn by staring at the sun without wearing any protection glasses or mask. Corneas cells burn and develop blisters eventually. It is similar to the cracks identical to the skin sunburns. This eye layer's burnt condition refers to as photo keratitis.

This effect of photo keratitis is not appeared instantaneously after staring at the sun. But after few hours of direct sun exposure, you will feel discomfort in your eyes if you rub them multiple times. You may feel the inflammation. But some lucky peoples feel relaxed after few hours if they give proper rest to their eyes.

However, the continuous staring at the sun without wearing any protection glasses can lead to irreparable damage to your eyes. Some case studies show that solar retinopathy patients feel symptoms right after 30 minutes of continuous exposure to the sun.

Our eyes have a sensitive retina that comes into stimulation when exposed to sunlight. After continuous sunlight exposure, the retina releases the chemical barrage and is entirely concentrated, damaging the retina's eye tissues. The more damage occurs in retina tissues, the more your eyes are injured and unable to recover. But the mild injuries can heal in 12 months. The complete damage of tissues can lead to partial tissue damage or extensive damage, depending on conditions.

Moreover, eye macula damage with too much UV light exposure results in macular degeneration and leads to permanent blindness.

It can also cause the reverse conditions that cause the excess growth of tissues that cause cataracts and pterygium.

Facts and Tips about Eye Damage

Eye damage is not uncommon because many people face it and have various information about it. But still, many of us ignore the facts and conditions and directly expose to the sunlight. This ignorance can lead them to significant eye damages.

However, some facts and conditions help you understand how direct sunlight or solar eclipse damage our eyes. So let's look at them.

• Permanent eye damage occurs within 100 seconds of direct sunlight exposure. This period can be extended or reduced depending on the intensity of sunlight that day when you tare at it without wearing the protection glasses. This extended period of time can damage your eyes.
• Sunlight damages are not appearing instantly. According to studies, many people didn't feel them until they reached their 50s. These effects are usually due to mild exposure to sunlight.
• Drugs you use to treat the damaging effect of ultraviolet rays can speed up the reaction, because they will absorb the high amount in your eye-damaged layer.
• If you continuously stare at the sun for a long time without wearing protection glasses, it may immediately cause blindness. It is too painful that it comes instantly with many stages.
• You can protect your eyes by wearing suitable shaded eye protection glasses, especially long-term damage that is impossible to prevent and treat once t occurs.

So it is essential to wear sun protection glasses that block harmful UVA and UVB rays and protect your eyes from long-term damages. Ensure that you follow these facts and conditions to protect your eyes from significant injuries. Once you have eye sunburn or any other damage, you will have to face long-term damages.

Final words

So by summing up the above discussion, you can see the solar eclipse or sun by wearing the welding helmet or mask. But ensure that it has the correct shading. The right shade to look at the solar eclipse is above 12, providing significant protection.

Moreover, if you don't wear solar eclipse glasses or a welding mask to look at the sun, you will have long-term severe eye damage. It is challenging to bear eye damage that ends up in complete blindness. So it is advisable to not stare at the sun without wear protection glasses and keep yourself safe from ultraviolet rays.

We hope this guide helps you protect your eyes from solar eclipse damages, and you will have a suitable shade welding mask or solar eclipse lenses to look at the sun.

FAQ