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Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of lighting, or an absence of light.
Under low light conditions, human vision becomes monochrome, a phenomenon termed scotopic vision. The lack of color comes from inactivity of Cone cell, the type of photoreceptor cell on the retina that is responsible for the perception of color, but less sensitive to light than the Rod cell. Scotopic vision takes place when luminance levels drops below the sensitivity threshold of cone cells; the other two type - Mesopic vision and photopic vision - refers to vision under intermediate and normal lighting conditions.
The emotional response to darkness has led to usages of the term in many cultures, often to convey feelings of unhappiness or foreboding.
"Darkness" may also refer to night, which occurs when the Sun is more than 18° below the horizon.
A dark area has limited light sources, making things hard to see. Exposure to alternating light and darkness (night and day) has caused several evolutionary adaptations to darkness. When a vertebrate, like a human, enters a dark area, its dilate, allowing more light to enter the eye and improving night vision. Also, the light detecting cells in the human eye (rods and cones) will regenerate more unbleached rhodopsin when adapting to darkness.
One scientific measure of darkness is the Bortle scale, which indicates the night Sky brightness at a particular location, and the observability of celestial objects at that location.
The material known as Vantablack is one of the darkest substances known, absorbing up to 99.965% of visible light (at 663 nm if the light is perpendicular to the material), and was developed by Surrey NanoSystems in the United Kingdom.Guinness World Records: Darkest manmade substance, 19 October 2015 The name is a compound of the acronym VANTA (vertically aligned nanotube arrays) and the word black.
Color are mixed together to create darkness, because each color absorbs certain frequencies of light. Theoretically, mixing together the three , or the three , will absorb all visible light and create black. In practice, it is difficult to prevent the mixture from taking on a brown tint.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the first creation narrative begins with a void, described as "formless and empty," over which "darkness was over the surface of the deep" (Genesis 1:2). Into this void, God introduces light, declaring, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), and separates this light from the darkness. This initial act of creation is distinct from the later creation of celestial bodies—the sun and moon—on the fourth day.
The symbolism of darkness and light in these traditions extends beyond the physical. Light is often associated with divine presence, knowledge, and goodness, while darkness symbolizes ignorance, separation from God, and sin. For example, in Exodus 10:21, darkness is described as "the second-to-last plague" inflicted upon Egypt, representing both physical and spiritual blindness. Similarly, in the New Testament, Jesus frequently contrasts light and darkness in his teachings. Darkness is the "outer realm" where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12), symbolizing eternal separation from God.
In Islam, light ( nūr) and darkness ( ẓulumāt) are frequently invoked in both physical and spiritual contexts, reflecting profound moral and theological truths. The Quran begins its account of creation with Allah (or God) making the heavens and the earth and then creating "the darknesses and the light" (Quran 6:1). However, unlike some traditions where darkness is portrayed as inherently evil or chaotic, Islam emphasizes that both are under Allah's divine will and serve His purposes.
Light in the Quran often represents guidance, faith, and divine revelation, while darkness symbolizes misguidance, disbelief, and moral corruption. For instance, believers are often described as being "brought out from darkness into light" (Quran 2:257), a metaphor for their journey from ignorance to divine knowledge. This dichotomy underscores the moral framework of Islam, where both light and darkness are tools through which Allah tests and guides humanity.
In ancient Greek mythology, Erebus was a primordial deity representing the personification of darkness, particularly associated with the shadowy realm of death and the Greek underworld. In Greek cosmology, darkness was often linked to the afterlife, where souls journeyed into the depths of the underworld, a place of shadow and obscurity.
Darkness in Greek cosmology was not merely an absence of light but a distinct and active force. The underworld, ruled by Hades, was a place of obscurity and shadow, reflecting the ambiguous fate of the human soul after death. In this tradition, darkness often signified the unknown and the eternal, as well as the boundaries between life and the afterlife.
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