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General Science / Re: Which colour of light is hardest to see at night from a distance?
« on: 23/03/2018 09:53:52 »
It isn’t really related to distance, but to the sensitivity of the 2 types of receptor in the retina. The cones are the colour receptors sensitive across the range of colours but need quite a bit of light to work, the rods are better at night - low light - but are less sensitive to the red end. So as it gets darker you will start to see the reds getting duller and at night blues are easier to see - assuming the same level of illumination.
As regards lights in the distance, it will depend on the relative level when the light reaches your eye, so a really bright red light will be easier to see than a dull blue one and vise versa, but if they are the same brightness the bluer one will be more easily seen.
If you want to know more tech detail look up Purkinje effect.
As regards lights in the distance, it will depend on the relative level when the light reaches your eye, so a really bright red light will be easier to see than a dull blue one and vise versa, but if they are the same brightness the bluer one will be more easily seen.
If you want to know more tech detail look up Purkinje effect.
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