Darkness 248581 225581104 2008-07-14T12:13:33Z 65.208.210.97 [[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 225459696 by [[Special:Contributions/206.188.48.131|206.188.48.131]] ([[User talk:206.188.48.131|talk]]) {{Redirect|Dark}} {{Otheruses4|the absence of light}} '''Darkness''' (also called '''lightlessness''') is the absence of [[light]]. Scientifically it is only possible to have a reduced amount of light. The emotional response to an absence of light has inspired metaphor in literature, symbolism in art, and emphasis. ==Scientific== A dark object reflects fewer visible [[photons]] than other objects, and therefore appears dim in comparison. For example, matte black paint does not reflect visible light and appears dark, but white paint reflects all visible light and appears bright.<ref>{{cite paper | author = Mantese, Lucymarie | title = Photon-Driven Localization: How Materials Really Absorb Light | publisher = American Physical Society | date = March 2000 | url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000APS..MAR.E2001M | accessdate = 2007-01-21 }} </ref> For more information see [[color]]. {{wiktionary}} However; light cannot simply be absorbed without limit. [[Energy]], like visible light, cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be converted from one type of energy to another. Most objects that absorb visible light reemit it as infrared light.<ref>{{cite paper | author = Dr. Denise Smith | title = Exploring the Electromagnetic Spectrum: The Herschel Experiment | publisher = Space Telescope Science Institute | url = http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/work_con_lec/astro_wkshp_res/boston_herschel.ppt | format = powerpoint | accessdate = 2007-01-21 }} </ref> So, although an object may appear dark, it is likely bright at a frequency that a human being cannot see. For more information see [[thermodynamics]]. A dark area has few, if any, light sources present, making everything hard to see, like at night. Exposure to alternating light and darkness (night and day) has caused several evolutionary adaptations to darkness. When a [[vertebrate]], like a human, is placed in a dark area, its [[iris (anatomy)|iris]] dilates, allowing more light to enter the eye and improving [[night vision]]. The scientific definition of light includes the entire [[electromagnetic spectrum]], not just [[visible light]], so it is scientifically impossible to create perfect darkness. For example, all objects radiate heat in the form of [[infrared light]] and [[gamma rays]], extremely high frequency light, can penetrate even dense materials.<ref> {{cite newsgroup | title = Re: Does true darkness exist or is it just the lowest intensity of light? | author = Aaron Romanowsky | date = October 1, 1997 | newsgroup = MadSci.Physics | url = http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec97/875751731.Ph.r.html}} </ref> ==Poetic== [[Image:Ivan Kramskoy- Unconsolable Grief.JPG|thumb|[[Ivan Kramskoy]]'s "Unconsolable Grief": In many cultures, wearing of dark colors shows grief]] As a poetic term, darkness can also mean the presence of shadows, evil, or depression. Darkness can have a strong psychological impact. It can cause depression in people with [[seasonal affective disorder]], fear in [[nyctophobia|nyctophobics]], comfort in lygophilics, or attraction as in [[gothic fashion]]. These emotions are used to add power to literary imagery. Religious texts often use darkness to make a visual point. In the [[Bible]], darkness was the second to last plague (Exodus 10:21) and the location of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)<ref>Online Bible - http://www.biblegateway.com/</ref> The [[Qur’an]] has been interpreted to say that those who transgress the bounds of what is right are doomed to “burning despair and ice-cold darkness.” (Nab 78.25)<ref>Online translation of The Holy Quran - http://www.islamicity.com/quransearch/</ref> In Greek Mythology, three layers of night surround [[Tartarus]],<ref>{{cite book | last = [[Hesiod]] | title = [[Theogony]] | date = 700 BCE | location = 713-735 | url = http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm}}</ref> a place for the worst sinners as far beneath [[Hades]] as heaven is high above earth.<ref>{{cite book | last = [[Homer]] | title = [[Iliad]] | date = 700 BCE | location = Book VII | url = http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html}}</ref> The [[Hindu goddess]] [[Kali|Kalí]] (black, dark colored) is also closely associated with darkness and violence, though she is equally associated with [[mother| motherhood]] and [[benevolence]]. In [[Chinese philosophy]] Yin is the feminine part of the [[Taijitu]] and is represented by a dark lobe. The use of darkness as a [[rhetorical device]] has a long standing tradition. Shakespeare, working in the 16th and 17th centuries, made a character call Satan the “prince of darkness” ([[King Lear]]: III, iv) and gave darkness jaws with which to devour love. ([[A Midsummer Night’s Dream]]: I, i)<ref>{{cite web | last = [[Shakespeare]] | first = William | title = The Complete Works | publisher = The Tech, [[MIT]] | url = http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/ }}</ref> Chaucer, a 14th century Middle English writer, wrote that knights must cast away the “workes of darkness.”<ref>{{cite book | last = [[Chaucer]] | first = Geoffrey | title = [[The Canterbury Tales]], and Other Poems | date = 14th century | location = The Second Nun’s Tale | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2383}}</ref> Dante described hell as “solid darkness stain’d.”<ref>{{cite book | last = Alighieri | first = [[Dante]] | coauthors = Translated by: Henry Francis | title = [[The Divine Comedy]] | date = 14th century | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8800 }} </ref> Even in Old English there were three words that could mean darkness; heolstor, genip, and sceadu.<ref>{{cite book | last = Mitchell | first = Bruce | coauthors = Fred C. Robinson | title = A Guide to Old English | publisher = Blackwell Publishing | date = 2001 | location = Glossary | pages = 332, 349, 363, 369 | isbn = 0-631-22636-2 }} </ref> Heolstor also meant “hiding-place” and became holster, genip meant “mist” and fell out of use like many strong verbs, it is however still used in the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] saying "in het geniep" which means secretly, sceadu meant “shadow” and remained in use. The word darkness eventually evolved from the word deorc, which meant “dark”.<ref>{{cite web | last = Harper | first = Douglass | title = Dark | work = Online Etymology Dictionary | date = November 2001 | url = http://www.etymonline.com | accessdate = 2007-01-18 }}</ref> ==Artistic== [[Image:CaravaggioContarelli.jpg|thumb|[[Caravaggio]]'s ''[[The Calling of St Matthew (Caravaggio)|The Calling of St Matthew]]'' uses darkness for its chiaroscuro effects.]] Artistically, darkness can also be used to emphasize or contrast with light. See [[chiaroscuro]] for a discussion of the uses of such contrasts in visual media. Color [[paints]] are mixed together to create darkness, because each color absorbs certain frequencies of light. Theoretically, mixing together the three primary colors, or the three secondary colors, will absorb all visible light and create black. In practice it is difficult to prevent the mixture from taking on a brown tint. The color of a [[pixel|point]], on a standard 24-bit [[computer display]], is defined by three numbers between 0 and 255, one each for red, green, and blue. Because the absence of light creates darkness, darker colors are closer to (0,0,0). Pens use darkness, commonly in the form of blue or black ink, to make clear markings on bright paper, commonly white or yellow. Letters displayed on a computer display are also usually created dark, often in the same blue and black colors, on a light background. This difference in brightness levels is called [[Contrast (vision)|contrast]] and makes smaller letters readable. Paintings may use darkness to create [[leading lines]] and [[voids]], among other things. These shapes are designed to draw the eye around the painting. Shadows add perspective. ==See also== {{commonscat}} *[[Plagues of Egypt]] *[[Dark tourism]] - [[travel]] to sites associated with [[death]] and [[suffering]]. *[[Dark Ages]] - unenlightened times. ==References== {{Reflist|2}} [[Category:Light]] [[Category:Symbols]] [[ca:Foscor]] [[cs:Temno]] [[de:Dunkelheit]] [[es:Oscuridad]] [[eo:Mallumo]] [[fr:Obscurité]] [[ko:어둠]] [[it:Oscurità]] [[lb:Däischtert]] [[nl:Duisternis]] [[new:ख्युं]] [[ja:闇]] [[nn:Mørke]] [[pl:Ciemność]] [[scn:Scuru]] [[simple:Darkness]] [[sk:Temnota]] [[fi:Pimeys]] [[sv:Mörker]] [[zh:黑暗]]