2007-02-26 06:14:22 · 13 answers · asked by wheelrim 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The only reason you see things is because light is reflecting off everything into your eyes and the brain converts the light to a visible image.
No light, no sight. (Think of a totally blind person)
Darkness therefore doesn't exist ... only lack of light.
2007-02-26 08:40:58 · answer #1 · answered by Norrie 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The concept of darkness "going" somewhere is rooted in the Law of Conservation of Matter, which holds that matter can neither be created or destroyed, only transformed. According to this law, when an object or substance is present in a certain place at a certain time and not present in the same place at a later time, then it either a) moved to another place or b) was transformed through some chemical process into a different object or substance.
So for the question of where darkness goes, there are three logical possibilities: 1) It goes to some as-yet unobserved location; 2) It has been altered into a different substance via a chemical reaction; or 3) Darkness does not obey the Law of Conservation of Matter.
With the evidence available, the third possibility seems most likely. Scientists speculate that the phenomenon we call darkness does not have the properties of matter and therefore does not behave according to the laws that describe matter.
In our daily lives we observe a number of different events, and the bulk of our attention is focused on objects and substances that do display the properties of matter. This is why the initial question -- "where does the darkness go when you put the light on" -- seems paradoxical. It is only so when we presume that darkness,being a familiar concept, shares the physical properties of most other familiar concepts: those that are material.
2007-02-26 06:44:15 · answer #2 · answered by Ben H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Darkness does not exist. It is nothing, and therefore goes nowhere. It is not the opposite of light, but the absence of it.
When you are in a dark room and all you see is black, it is because there is no light to bounce off of or be absorbed by the objects in the room, giving them their color to your eyes.
2007-02-26 06:23:36 · answer #3 · answered by trovanhawk 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This question assumes that darkness is an actual physical entity. It is not, it is only the absence of light. It doesn't "go anywhere" because there's nothing there to move in the first place. If you sew up a hole in your jeans, the hole doesn't go anywhere, it just ceases to exist.
2007-02-26 06:21:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The darkness is still there...you just can't see it because the light is on.
2007-02-26 06:31:22 · answer #5 · answered by alan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The darkness is still there...you just can't see it because the light is on.
2007-02-26 06:23:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
darkness is the absence of light. when the light comes on, the darkness ceases to exist.
2007-02-26 06:25:04 · answer #7 · answered by ann 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well...i think when any space is exposed to any source of light, the quarks (subatomic particles) present in the space (air molecule and other atomic substance present there) of the room gets charged by the light packets emitted by the source and all the excess energy are reflected back by the same quarkes and thus in my view it is just a changed state of quarks (from dark to light)
Not a physicist, just guessing :) (www.biksy.com)
2007-02-26 06:31:26 · answer #8 · answered by Bikram 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Outside. If you look out the window when you switch the light on it always looks darker.
2007-02-26 06:20:16 · answer #9 · answered by Jacquimc 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Doesnt go anywhere coz it turns into light
2007-02-26 06:20:43 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋