What is light, without darkness?

tehuber1337

Yeah. ::)

hYpNoSKill the sun and darkness will freeze us to death, take away the darkness and ethier sleep deprivation or the fact we'd all burn to death would.

Incorrect. The sun emits electromagnetic radiation over a wide range of frequencies, only some of which are visible. it is the visible spectrum that provides illumination, and some of the invisible (specifically the part just below the visible) that provides heat. Were the visible spectrum to be extinguished, we would still have heat but we would be in what we call darkness, or more accurately a complete lack of visible illumination. Were the infra-red spectrum to be extinguished, we would have illumination but no heat, and would still be able to get skin cancer regardless of whether it was heat, visible light or both that we lost. (Skin cancer is caused by the ultraviolet spectrum, which is just above the visible spectrum)regarding your other comment about sleep deprivation, people manage to live perfectly well at polar research stations, where both night and day are each six months long.

Replying to #22

...I was aware but didn't think about the people sleeping in mixed day/night times...and after my graveyard shifts I sleep better during the day-provided I can get some darkness in my room (not hard-I just seal all incoming light :P )And the sun thing...I don't really get what you said...but what I meant by my post is...if the sun exploaded...you know it goes boom?Are are you refering to the "too much sun" thing (I only used sleep deprivation if we say had nothing but pure blinding sun light entering every corner of the world-though some could die from the heat it'll be in...)

my point is you arent making a distinction between light and heat. They're usually found together but they are in fact separate things.

I think first you have to ask what darkness is. Tehuber1337 answered this rather well, but it seems to have been ignored, so I'll have a stab at it:
darkness is defined by varying degrees of light, without light darkness would not exist. For instance; there was no word for vacuum until the absence of air was discovered. Shadows almost always have light in them.
You might as well ask if heat can exist without cold.

Loonylion · #24my point is you arent making a distinction between light and heat. They're usually found together but they are in fact separate things.

Oh...so if there was no darkness and absolutly no shade we might not all be burnt to death/over heat/possibly get no sleep?(I can't sleep when it's over 25 degrees :( )

Replying to #26

0.0 I love heat =)

not unless the amount of heat involved changes.

corprlfishI was thinking the other day, you can't have light, without darkness to overpower.There will always be darkness inside light, and there will always be light inside darkness.You can't see a torches light on a sunny day, yet you can see it clearly on a dark night.

Well said.
CLAP CLAP CLAP.
Without death, there is no life.

What the fail... Why bother thinking about something like that?

This thread makes me lose faith in humanity. Even moreso because I know that however I construct this, it's going to be ignored for convenience by the people who actually need correcting. I wonder sometimes if this is how the world continues to manufacture stupidity.What is light without darkness? A stupid fucking question considering darkness is an abstract concept we use to describe the lack of intensity of a certain wavelength of electromagnetic wave in any given area. Darkness isn't a thing, it can't be measured, and thus it doesn't exist and cannot have light in it. We don't have anti-lumens to measure how much dark there is. We have lumens to measure light intensity, though. Light is real. It is measurable. Darkness is fake and can't do shit.

Replying to #31

Bite me.

corprlfishI wasn't trying to get philosophical, I was just saying, there will always be darkness in light..... Like.... Shadows?

Unfortunately, I WILL get into the physics.Shadows are the consequence of photons of visible light being absorbed/redirected by an object. The shadow is a consequence of the object rather than the light itself, and this only "visibly" happens when the wavelegnth of the photons is between approximately 440nm - 720nm , aka "visible light" (note: Electromagnetic Shadows are possible with any wavelegnth of light, however almost none are visibly observable).Darkness is actually defined as the absence of light, therefore darkness is directly dependent on light.Philosophical argument voided by the power of physics.

Stop being sciency >.>

NeoMagicwarrior · #33Unfortunately, I WILL get into the physics.

Sorry pal, you've been inb4'd three times already.

tehuber1337Light is a physical thing, whereas darkness is an abstract term referring to something being less illuminated than something else.

gaynorvader · #25I think first you have to ask what darkness is. Tehuber1337 answered this rather well, but it seems to have been ignored, so I'll have a stab at it:
darkness is defined by varying degrees of light, without light darkness would not exist. For instance; there was no word for vacuum until the absence of air was discovered. Shadows almost always have light in them.

Suiseiseki · #31What is light without darkness? A stupid fucking question considering darkness is an abstract concept we use to describe the lack of intensity of a certain wavelength of electromagnetic wave in any given area. Darkness isn't a thing, it can't be measured, and thus it doesn't exist and cannot have light in it. We don't have anti-lumens to measure how much dark there is. We have lumens to measure light intensity, though. Light is real. It is measurable. Darkness is fake and can't do shit.

NeoMagicwarriorShadows are the consequence of light photons being absorbed/redirected by an object. The shadow is a consequence of the object rather than the light itself, and this only visibly happens when the wavelegnth of the photons is between approximately 440nm - 720nm.Darkness is actually defined as the absence of light, therefore darkness is directly dependent on light.

I'm not sure we can achieve greater succinctness by continuing to refine this same explanation =/By the way, the phrase "light photons" is redundant, I believe. As I said earlier, light is electromagnetic radiation and electromagnetic radiation only travels as photons.

Replying to #35

"light photons" was supposed to refer to visible light.
*edits original post for clarity*

darkness exist because light cant reach it so light can exist without darkness and its light that overpower the darkness

Replying to #37

I already said light overpowers darkness.

it's light. :P

corprlfish · #34Stop being sciency >.>

If you didn't want to get "sciency" you should have asked a more philosophical question like 'What is good without evil?' or 'What is pleasure without misery?' :)