Night Vision - Science Fun and Games
This is a fun night vision experiment. Kids of all ages enjoy it and its very simple. How much can you see in the dark?
SUPPLIES:
A big bunch of different colored socks that have not been sorted
Some shirts that belong to various people in your family
DIRECTIONS:
1. Once it is dark outside, go into a room and close the door. Close the blinds or shades so that only a little bit of light comes into the room. Turn out the lights.
2. Look around the room. What can you see? How close do you have to get to something to see it? Is it easier to see objects that are closer to the window?
3. Sort the socks in the dark. Make a pile of white ones, and a pile for all the other colors as well.
4. Ask a helper to stand on the other side of the room and hold up the shirts one at a time. Can you tell whom the shirt belongs to right away?
5. Look around the room again. What can you see now? Is it easier to see in the dark as time passes than it was when you first turned off the lights?
What happens? You probably sorted some of the socks wrong because you couldn’t really see the colors. It was probably very hard to see things, especially from far away. However, as time passed, you eyes adjusted and it probably got a little easier.
Why? The human eye is not made to see very well in the dark. We really don’t need to, since we are usually asleep at night.
A lot of animals can see as well at night as we see during the day. They are nocturnal animals. These are usually animals that do their hunting or spend most of their waking hours at night. Nocturnal animals usually have very big eyes to let more light in.
