Question

Give reason why we cannot see anything in a darkroom

Answer 1

We are able to see anything due to two conditions

1. light
2. object

in dark room there is absence of light therefore we can't see anything...

Answer 2

The light sensitive cells on the back of the human eyeball called the Retina react to light striking their surfaces and signal the information to the brain. This means that for the human eye to react to visual information there must be a light source that bounces off of the object to be seen and then reflect off of that object through the lens at the front of the eyeball, through the vitreous fluid inside the eyeball and then impact upon the retina where the special light detection cells react. Complete darkness is by definition the absence of light in the visual frequencies that these special cells respond to. Therefor in complete darkness the eyes can not see anything because they receive no information the brain can interpret as images. Special electronic ‘night vision’ viewers are able to take light frequencies which the human eye does not respond to and convert them into frequencies within the human visual range creating an artificial image in the absence of visible light. typically these devices work in light frequencies in the infra-red portion of the spectrum to low to be seen with the naked eye and they often include an infra-red light source that the unaided human eye can not see to increase the detailed information they can use to create the artificial images.

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Saurabh Singh

Saurabh Singh, I love all dogs. Not all humans make it to that list!

Answered Mar 20, 2016

Let's start with explaining darkness here.  

There is no darkness. It's just  absence of light.  

Now if there is no light, you can not see anything.  

Now for the science part.  

You are able to see stuff because there is light(photons,  to be specific)  emitted by that particular object which travel through space and are absorbed by photoreceptive cells in your eyes(rods and cons) .  

If the object is a source (a light bulb, or a star) that can generate and emit photons, then you can see it without any prerequisites. But if it's any other object, it has to first absorb photons emitted by a source and then emit them. It's the emitted photons that enable you to see the object.

There will, thus be three situation when you can't see anything.  

1)If there is no source of photons (in a dark room, with no window or doors,  for instance).  

2) If the object absorbs all the photons that reach it, and emits back none (black hole).  

3) If the photons are prevented from reaching your retinas by some means or other (when you close your eyes).