when a light goes out.where does it go?

Answer 1

Shopping if its a lady light, to the pub if its a bloke light.

Answer 2

The term "light" means a beam of protons. The beam of protons is emitted by some kind of "source."

When the source emits the beam, like water squirting out of a hose, the beam of light shoots out in a straight line at 186,000 miles per second ( the speed of light) and travels in that straight line until it strikes something.

Now, some things reflect light and some things absorb light.
Surface color has a lot to do with the action. Surface contour and surface texture also have a lot to do with what happens when a light beam strikes a surface.

Dark colors absorb most of the light. Light colors reflect most of the light. White is at the end of the color spectrum which reflects the most, and black is at the other end of the color spectrum where the most amount of light is absorbed.

Smooth objects also tend to send back strong reflections because the reflected light is in a regular pattern. Rough surfaces, pitted or pronged surfaces tend to scatter the reflected light in all kinds of unusual ways reducing the intensity of the reflected light as viewed from any particular
vantage point you might choose to select.

A mirrored surface reflects more light energy than a white one. You might consider a mirrored surface to be the surface of a still body of water, for example. At certain angles, the smooth surface of a body of water appears mirrorlike and reflects almost everything.

Now, when you turn off a light, maybe with an electrical switch or something, what happens is you shut off the electrical energy energy flow to the emitter, and the proton beam ceases to be emitted from the source.

In a camp fire the burning wood is so hot it glows and radiates heat and light. If you shut off the oxygen supply to the fire, what happens is that the fire goes out, but the glowing heat remains and continues to radiate heat and light. The glowing coals and embers finally cool down enough so that they turn black or the grayish white color of ash. Black things are incompletely consumed by the fire (will still burn again if re-lit). Grayish white things have been pretty well consumed by the fire (will not sustain further burning if re-lit).

So, to conclude, light is a beam of proton energy from a source. Darkness is the absence of any light. If you stop
part of a light beam with a solid surface such as a wall or hunk of cardboard, the area behind the wall or cardboard is in total blackness assuming there is no other source of illumination such as starlight or moonlight, etc.

Answer 3

You posted this in the "Astronomy and Space" section, so I'm asuming you mean the light from a star.
Light goes out in a star when the star is just about dead.. so, there just isn't enough energy being emitted in the light part of the energy spectrum. There is probably still some heat or other form of energy, at least for a little bit more until the star completely dies.

Answer 4

Only John G got it completely right.

You only see light that hits your retina, same as you only hear sounds that reach your ears. Simple as that.

When you switch the light out, there is no more light hitting your eyes. But the light from that lamp, will be spreading out everywhere it can, but none of it hitting your eyes.

Remember that at 186,000 miles per second, soon as you switch the light on, the photons are passing the moon in about 1.5 seconds.

When you switch the light off, the photons are instantly beyond your eyes. Someone on the moon will see the light for 1.5 seconds after you (if they have a strong enoug scope), and someone on Mars may see it several minutes after you, as the photons reach their eyes.

The fact that light spreads out in all directions means that though trillions and trillions of photons hit your eyes from your lamp, very few will hit the eyes of someone on mars. That means the light will be very dim there and they would need a bigger telescope than any yet produced to see your lamp.

with a telescop, the photons travel down the tube and are focussed into your eyes, or onto a photographic sheet.

The point is that if photons do not impact the retina at the back of your eyes, you will not see any light.

And note that when your lamp is on, you see other objects in the room simply because they are reflecting the light (throwing back photons), and these are reaching your eyes. In other words, the light is not over there at the wall, it is hitting your eyes from the wall, and your brain interprets it as "over there".

That is why new born babies look like they don't see anything. Their eyes are perfectly formed, but their brains have not learned to interpret what they see.

Answer 5

light is made of photons that comes from a source. As the light travels the photon dissipate like when you shoot water out of a spray bottle. Photons are so small they usually just pass through solid objects after they dissipate. If the light is concentrated enough and an object is close enough the light will burn. That's how lasers work (Light Amplification by Simulated Energized Radiation). A beam of light doesnt pass through solid objects because they bounce off.

Answer 6

A light is visible to you because it is giving off photons (packets) of light particles (or waves) that strike the retina at the back of your eye, which then registers with your brain(?), so you see it. When it "goes out", the light doesn't go anywhere, the object merely stops emitting these photons...

(Actually, the subject of light is a far too complex one to deal with adequately here. Let's just say, when a light "goes out", it slips into another dimension, where it snuggles up in bed and goes to sleep.)

Answer 7

LOL im 11 and this is my answer: Once a "lightbulb" goes out, the light expands until it is nothing(haha i didnt lok that up how smart am i?)
Another:Once a "Star-light" goes out, the star becomes nothing and explodes,eventually there is nothing but some parts of the star may attach to other plnats, asteroids, or meteors(i think, again my own answer!)

Answer 8

Light starts out in one point, it then continues to expand until it is not seen after a distance, because the light photons are not close enough together. When the light source goes out then no more light photons are produced, so the existing photons expand until they cannot be seen. Then it is no longer seen.

Answer 9

fink you have to put the light on to check.

Answer 10

john g is the right answer but gimberts answer is the funniest.