Solar Eclipse Glasses Deserve Some Plastic Praise

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - MARCH 20: Students from Saint Ursula's Covent Secondary School in Greenwich pose for a photograph wearing protective glasses at the Royal Observatory Greenwich on March 20, 2015 in London, England. Hundreds of people gathered outside The Royal Observatory Greenwich hoping see a near total solar eclipse. The solar eclipse, which occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, started at 08:24 GMT and continues until 10:41 GMT, with the maximum obscuration of the Sun happening at 09:31 GMT. The last significant solar eclipse visible from the UK was on 11 August, 1999. (Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

The Solar Eclipse was a once in a lifetime experience and although its over, the buzz is still alive.  Have you been wondering what made those glasses solar safe?

In other words, some of you may be thinking how did a flimsy pair of plastic sunglasses that seem to closely resemble the disposable 3D glasses you’d get a movie theater protect people from blindness?

It’s all in the Polymer. The glasses are made from a black polymer (a resin infused with carbon particles). This composition blocks almost all visible light and all of the ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Standard sunglasses do a pretty good job with UV radiation but only filters less than 20 percent of visible light.

That’s right, we have got to thank plastic for this one. 

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