tintedpane.com

-The reason you see flicker off a CRT monitor when you’re looking at it from the corner of your eye is due to the rod cells in your retina. They are sensitive enough to detect a single photon. The cone cells which are primarily used for foreground vision, need several magnitudes more photons to trigger.-

note: I think I’ve lost the ability to coherently convey ideas through writing. (I can’t write well anymore…)

Here’s the outline version:

Why we see flicker on monitors and TVs:

1. There’s something called the flicker fusion threshold
2. Depends on two things:
• It depends on brightness of light source
• Also depends on where the light falls on the eye
3. Rod cells
• Are on the perimeter of the eye
• Are very sensitive to small amounts of light
• Therefore you can notice movement/flicker better within your peripheral vision
4. Cone cells
• Located on the “fovea” or the center of the eye
• Not as sensitive to light
• This is why you don’t see flicker as much when you look straight at the particular light source

Sources:

• Wikipedia
• My curiosity
1. Started w/ reading about hard drive failure on ars
2. Then searching for S.M.A.R.T. utilities
3. Remembering I already had a free one through SpeedFan
4. Reading Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) article on that website
5. Going to Wikipedia for more info
6. Reading about power delivery