us.2u Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Doe's dark have speed? can darkness be measued? or is it Zero I wonder coz light travels (186,000 miles per second) yet darkness is faster coz it's here but if they both have speeds what's dividing them or in between? or am I quoting sheer nonsense? I don't know but I've never heard anyone question whether darkness has a speed; everyone seems to take for granted, it doesen't!...I don't...us.2u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5614 Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 light is made up of photons which travel at quote you "186,000 miles per second" if that is correct. darkness is the absence of photons, it is nothing... therefore it cannot have a speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadmus Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 darkness is the absence of photons, it is nothing... therefore it cannot have a speed. I disagree. In order for a person to see darkness, the person must be seeing light. Darkness is light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap'n Refsmmat Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Seeing darkness is not actually "seeing," it's rather noticing that there is no light. The speed of darkness is how fast light can go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apologia Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 I disagree. In order for a person to see darkness, the person must be seeing light. Darkness is light. no. Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. You cant make dark darker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macroscopic Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 In order for a person to see darkness, the person must be seeing light. Darkness is light. Darkness isn't light, it is the absence of light. Darkness isn't something that is seen, it means that you can't see anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadmus Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Seeing darkness is not actually "seeing," it's rather noticing that there is no light. no. Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. You cant make dark darker It is not ever possible to notice that there is no light, as there is always light. Darkness is a notion that pertains to light that is not within a narrow range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The eyes sense light. Darkenss is a form of light. I wonder if those of you who say that darkness is not light are considering light not to refer to all electromagnetic radiation but only to electromagnetic radiation witin the visible spectrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deified Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 I think darkness is a rather relative term. If you used "black" or "blackness" instead, I believe the discrepancy would go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macroscopic Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 It is not ever possible to notice that there is no light' date=' as there is always light. Darkness is a notion that pertains to light that is not within a narrow range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The eyes sense light. Darkenss is a form of light. I wonder if those of you who say that darkness is not light are considering light not to refer to all electromagnetic radiation but only to electromagnetic radiation witin the visible spectrum.[/quote'] I don't know what you mean when you say darkness is light. Darkness is not a form of electromagnetic radiation, but a lack of it. Dark=Light: what? Could you explain what you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadmus Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 I don't know what you mean when you say darkness is light. Darkness is not a form of electromagnetic radiation' date=' but a lack of it. Dark=Light: what? Could you explain what you mean?[/quote'] You say that darkness is an absense of light. To me, this is not meaninful. Everywhere there is light. There is nowhere that is without light. The universe is flooded with light. During the day, the sun shines large amounts of light in the visible spectrum onto the earth, and we see daylight. During the night, the sunlight passes through the earth and is altered before it reaches our eyes, such that the sky looks dark. The light from the sun still reaches our eyes, but it has been shifted out of the visible spectrum. The eyes sense light. The eyes cannot see an absense of light, because the earth is never not flooded with sunlight. Darkness is the name given to light that has been shifted out of the visible spectrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macroscopic Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 'During the night, the sunlight passes through the earth ' Through the Earth? You don't mean that literally do you? I hope I'm misenterpreting what you are trying to say. You mean the atmosphere right? 'Darkness is the name given to light that has been shifted out of the visible spectrum.' Where'd you learn that? Can you provide a link to a reliable site? "You say that darkness is an absense of light." That's right, and any physics textbook would agree with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadmus Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 "You say that darkness is an absense of light."That's right' date=' and any physics textbook would agree with me.[/quote'] Please cite one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apologia Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 The eyes sense light. Darkenss is a form of light. I wonder if those of you who say that darkness is not light are considering light not to refer to all electromagnetic radiation but only to electromagnetic radiation witin the visible spectrum. if dark was a form of light, then wouldn't the term dark have no meaning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calbiterol Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Cadmus. If I had a box that was opaque to ALL of the spectrum, visible and invisible (to human eyes), then what would be in the box? If there were NO photons in the box, what could possibly be in it? Dark. In other words, an absence of light. Take a lesson from someone who often takes things way to seriously - you're overanalyzing. P.S. NO light passes through the earth. Like Macroscopic, I hope I'm misinterpreting you here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadmus Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 if dark was a form of light, then wouldn't the term dark have no meaning? The word dark does have meaning. Light and dark refer to different experiences with perception of the electromagnetic spectrum. Other people here seem to use darkness to refer to the absence of electromagenetic radiation, rather than to the absense of perception of the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The eyes are light receptors. Our world is flooded with electromagnetic radiation. There is never a complete (or even near complete) absense of radiation in our environment. It the eyes can see darkness, then it must be light, because they eyes see light. They do not see non-existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadmus Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 If I had a box that was opaque to ALL of the spectrum, visible and invisible (to human eyes), then what would be in the box? If there were NO photons in the box, what could possibly be in it? Are you suggesting that you might have a box through which zero electromagnetic radiation could pass? I don't think that this is possible. I also don't think that the notion of "photons in the box" is meaningful, but that is another topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecoli Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 I think darkness is a rather relative term. If you used "black" or "blackness" instead, I believe the discrepancy would go away. I agree, what we think of as dark is merely an area where there are less photons being emitted then an area we precieve as light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calbiterol Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Are you suggesting that you might have a box through which zero electromagnetic radiation could pass? I don't think that this is possible. I also don't think that the notion of "photons in the box" is meaningful' date=' but that is another topic.[/quote'] No, I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm presenting a hypothetical situation. There are materials that are opaque to the visible spectrum. Likewise, there are materials that are opaque to the other spectrums (unless I'm misinformed). Put all three together. Sorry about the photons in the box thing, I'm not exactly... knowledgeable... about how to word these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apologia Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 The word dark does have meaning. Light and dark refer to different experiences with perception of the electromagnetic spectrum. Other people here seem to use darkness to refer to the absence of electromagenetic radiation' date=' rather than to the absense of perception of the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The eyes are light receptors. Our world is flooded with electromagnetic radiation. There is never a complete (or even near complete) absense of radiation in our environment. It the eyes can see darkness, then it must be light, because they eyes see light. They do not see non-existence.[/quote'] Are you talking about existence in terms of what we see? Just because we cant see darkness, doesnt mean it doesnt exist but i do understand your argument in a sense. ITs kinda like absolute zero. If a molecule has zero kinetic energy, then technically it doesnt exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadmus Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Just because we cant see darkness, doesnt mean it doesnt exist If we were to accept that such an entity as darkness exists, what would you consider to be its nature and its composition? By the way, I contend that we can see darkness. I think that no one here has suggested that we do not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reverse Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Yes I have noticed that darkness seems to radiate from under things and especially out from the corners of closets. Very obscure and entertaining observation, well I suppose if a vacuum isn’t really a vacuum then it's seems to follow that darkness isn’t really no light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
us.2u Posted February 15, 2005 Author Share Posted February 15, 2005 Well doe's darkness exist? or do we imagine it's existance? Sometimes I wonder if darkness is an invisible entity made up of unknown molecules & like everything in our Universe seems to have an opposite making an equal; could darkness be 186,000 seconds in reverse so that we don't see it? just an idea; "so light is measured in photons" maybe dark could be measured in neg-photons this is indeed a strange topic... I guess we're all in the dark....us.2u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayonara Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Are you suggesting that you might have a box through which zero electromagnetic radiation could pass? I don't think that this is possible. I also don't think that the notion of "photons in the box" is meaningful' date=' but that is another topic.[/quote'] If EMR in the non-visible spectrum stimulated any response whatsoever in the human eye, then you might have a point, but it doesn't. The fact that we call it "non-visible light" doesn't mean it's the same thing as darkness, nor does the fact that the two coincide so reliably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mezarashi Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Hahaha, this is the funniest thread I've read so far on this forum, and you know what, I'm just going to agree with reverse that yes, darkness is that stuff that creeps out of your closet. FEAR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed84c Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 If EMR in the non-visible spectrum stimulated any response whatsoever in the human eye' date=' then you might have a point, but it doesn't. The fact that we call it "non-visible light" doesn't mean it's the same thing as darkness, nor does the fact that the two coincide so reliably.[/quote'] Indeed. a room filled with IR radiation may appear dark but not when we switch on the night vision cameras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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