How do our eyes “get used to the dark”?
In: Biology
Your rods in the retina which detects light and dark do this by constantly producing a chemical which gets broken down in light and then measure the amount of chemical in the cell. In bright light there is very little chemical in the rods but there is still a lot of variation so you will notice it, in fact in bright light most of the vision is based on the cones which works similarly but are sensitive to color as well. However when you go into a dark place there is still very little chemical in the rods but now the light is not strong enough to break it down. You need to wait for the level of the chemical builds up enough that the light actually have a significant impact on the amount of chemicals. And this takes time. It can take up to an hour to get full night vision and you are able to see clearly in a moonless night. However most of your vision will be restored in just a few minutes.
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