If there was nothing but total darkness all around you, and there was a lamp about a few miles away, would you see the light? I would think so because theres nothing else to see.
Just curiousity
2006-10-27 00:25:27 · 12 answers · asked by Nick F 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
It's not a stupid question.
If you had *total* darkness, then you would certainly see the light. As an analogy, note that very dim planets are hundreds of millions of miles away, yet we still see them.
2006-10-27 00:35:18 · answer #1 · answered by The ~Muffin~ Man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As always, it depends :)
We need the following:
1. Reasonable eyesight!
2. Properly Dark
3. "Line-of-sight" to the light source
The reason for needing to state 3 may not be obvious. Even if the land is very flat (it is in some states / countries), then after a few miles (I think it used to be reckoned about 25) then the curvature of the earth begins to obscure things you might reasonably think are "flat in line with you".
Assuming however that you, and/or the light source are suitably elevated so that the curvature of the earth will not obscure you AND assuming that the atmosphere is exceedingly clean and free from haze,fog,poullution etc.....
Yes :)
Furthermore it does NOT need to be overly bright either. In TRUE darkness, a decent candle can be easily observed from several miles away - as could the glow it makes inside a "white tent" for instance.
A 1 watt LED "lamp" pointed at you can be seen in "just averagely dark" from a distance of many miles.
Think on this for a moment: when you see an airliner going overhead at night, unless they have just taken off / coming into land, they should be a good few miles up - and may be a good few miles away from you too - yet you can perhaps still make out some lights on board.
LOL - plus when YOU are on the aircraft at night, flying over countries, you may be 7 miles up - but I bet you can still see city lights - and that is not even perfectly dark everywhere!
If the "lamp" is focussed and pointed at you (a laser source for example), then less than 1 milliwatt is needed to shine BRIGHTLY if you look along the axis of the beam - for MANY MANY miles (albeit most unwise to look into lasers!)
And no, questions are not stupid, puzzling over something for years when you could have just asked is the stupid thing to do :)
2006-10-27 00:47:31 · answer #2 · answered by Mark T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, and that is only if there are no physical barriers between you and the lamp, and you are standing at a relatively high point to view the lamp from atop. The higher you are, (not TOO high, but probably 1/20 a mile up), the more you'll be able to see. On a regular elevation, you won't be able to see the lamp, because even in the clearest daylight, the best of our us humans can only see up to a mile before the "horizon" covers it up...
2006-10-27 00:32:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK, lets take this quesiton and REALLY CRANK IT UP SHALL WE?
Everywhere you look in the universe as we see it, theres a star. So why is the universe black?
Its a paradox, I don't remember the name, but there is a reason why its not bright at night
As far as the one point of light? Signal decreases to the square of the distance. That is, if you hold a light meter 1 foot away from a light bulb thats turned on, it will read 75% if its held 2 feet away. If you hold the same light meter 3 feet away the light has gone down to 1/16th of the orginal reading
2006-10-27 00:36:58 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
To me the amazing thing about your lamp is that if all the people in the world were in the right position round the lamp they would all see the light.That means that there are millions and millions of those small photon things shining out from that tiny light.How can that be?
2006-10-27 08:37:23 · answer #5 · answered by Norman H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You probably would, if it was totally dark and there was a clear line of sight. Human eyes are amazingly sensitive; it's possible for a single photon to stimulate a rod cell. That, in fact, is the only subatomic particle that can be detected directly by our sensory apparatus.
2006-10-27 00:32:11 · answer #6 · answered by poorcocoboiboi 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it would have to be 2,000 loumens or about 500 Watts
and the ground has to be flat
also i know this to be true because at the two points where Alaska and Russia are about 30 miles apart you could hold a lamp at about 10,000 loumens and you could see it. this has been dun before.
a stadium light is about 50,000 lumens
a shop light is about 2,000 lumens
2006-10-27 00:30:56 · answer #7 · answered by thundrmark 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends upon the brightness of lamp but the environment around u really matters
2006-10-27 00:37:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it depends on the strenght of the light of the lamp because travelling from dat much distance light may not be able to hit your eyes .. okie but i appreciate nice question my friend...keep it up
be safe always
2006-10-27 00:32:35 · answer #9 · answered by shahidrock 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Potentially, but a lot depends on the distance
2006-10-27 02:02:06 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋