<p>Looking at an arc welder is bad, it is a source that emits on a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum. More specifically the blue and UV are particularly bad for vision:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Artificial sources of UV radiation also cause corneal damage. Injury
  from a welder's arc commonly is known as flash burn, welder's flash,
  or arc eye. Other sources of UV radiation injury include sun tanning
  beds, carbon arcs, photographic flood lamps, lightning, electric
  sparks, and halogen desk lamps. Several outbreaks of ultraviolet
  keratitis have been observed in the United States after installation
  of improper lighting in school gymnasiums, resulting in high levels of
  UV radiation.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Source: <a href="https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/799025-overview" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/799025-overview</a></p>

<p>Does lightning release the same magnitude of electromagnetic emissions as an arc wielder, in UVA, UVB or UVC spectra? Could watching lightning repeatedly degrade human vision?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-24T03:57:24.957Z
Voting to close, this is health related. Not related to earth sciences.
Gimelist
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-24T04:43:01.457Z
Fine I'll change it
Voltage Spike
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-24T07:13:21.600Z
I didn't see the original question as being too non Earth Science to stay.  It's hard to find a home for such cross-disciplinary questions.  I'm not sure whether anyone around here will be able to answer the full question about the eye dangers, but it's an interesting question :)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-27T16:10:42.043Z
More like a plasma cutter.
Ash
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-28T00:43:36.307Z
Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/271211/why-is-the-color-of-lightning-white-or-blue-rather-than-nothing
Spencer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-03T10:24:25.937Z
Voting to leave open, as it's fundemenatally asking about the spectrum of the light from lightning - which is very much on topic. The final sentence could possibly be removed from the question to remove doubt...
Semidiurnal Simon
<lightning>
Does lightning release the same electromagnetic emmisions as an arc welder?
Voltage Spike
# Does lightning release the same electromagnetic emmisions as an arc welder?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-23)

Looking at an arc welder is bad, it is a source that emits on a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum. More specifically the blue and UV are particularly bad for vision:

> Artificial sources of UV radiation also cause corneal damage. Injury
> from a welder's arc commonly is known as flash burn, welder's flash,
> or arc eye. Other sources of UV radiation injury include sun tanning
> beds, carbon arcs, photographic flood lamps, lightning, electric
> sparks, and halogen desk lamps. Several outbreaks of ultraviolet
> keratitis have been observed in the United States after installation
> of improper lighting in school gymnasiums, resulting in high levels of
> UV radiation.

Source: <https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/799025-overview>

Does lightning release the same magnitude of electromagnetic emissions as an arc wielder, in UVA, UVB or UVC spectra? Could watching lightning repeatedly degrade human vision?

**Tags:** lightning

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Voting to close, this is health related. Not related to earth sciences.  
> **username_0**: Fine I'll change it  
> **username_2**: I didn't see the original question as being too non Earth Science to stay.  It's hard to find a home for such cross-disciplinary questions.  I'm not sure whether anyone around here will be able to answer the full question about the eye dangers, but it's an interesting question :)  
> **username_3**: More like a plasma cutter.  
> **username_4**: Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/271211/why-is-the-color-of-lightning-white-or-blue-rather-than-nothing  
> **username_5**: Voting to leave open, as it's fundemenatally asking about the spectrum of the light from lightning - which is very much on topic. The final sentence could possibly be removed from the question to remove doubt...  

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