RE: A journey into the world of optics: How are we able to see different objects and colors?

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RE: A journey into the world of optics: How are we able to see different objects and colors?

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kingabesh (59)in #steemstem • 7 years ago

The portion of that light that arrives at the earth is typically composed of visible rays, ultraviolet and infra-red.The sun also emits gamma rays and x-rays but the earth's atmosphere acts like a shield so they don't reach the surface of the earth most of the times, or else it would be a disaster and a global extinction!

what exactly about the atmosphere makes it prevent the gamma and x-rays from reaching the earth but allow visible rays of light ?

have you heard of people with tetrachromatic vision who actually possess four cones ? yes, they exist :).

A very interesting read btw. Great effort man.

7 years ago in #steemstem by kingabesh (59)

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fancybrothers (65) 7 years ago (edited)

what exactly about the atmosphere makes it prevent the gamma and x-rays from reaching the earth but allow visible rays of light

What i wrote is an over-simplification. FIrst of all gamma rays are produced in the core of the sun, they are highly energetic and they rarely reach the sun's surface because they collide with matter and transform into lower energy forms.X rays on the other hand, has also short wavelengths, therefore they interact with almost any atom found in the space and transform into lower energy state (longer wavelenghts). The atmosphere is a dense layer of molecules, so it absords the extra energy of these rays.the shorter the wavelength , the more interactions and vice versa .In fact, that's why we use radio waves to communicate in the outer space because they have very long wavelengths. You can always ask @lemouth for more clarifications on the subject, he's the expert after all.

have you heard of people with tetrachromatic vision who actually possess four cones

I don't really know about that ! i know there's difference in people but a whole other cone ? that's new to me.If you have something ,Can you provide me with some resources ? Anyway i appreciate your response, it raised so many questions in my head :p

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lemouth (74) 7 years ago

What do you want to know exactly? :)

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fancybrothers (65) 7 years ago (edited)

I tried to explain to @kingabesh what I.know but I still have two questions: do any gamma rays reach the surface of the earth? And if so isn't space supposed to be empty? what's stopping gamma rays from reaching the atmosphere ?

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lemouth (74) 7 years ago

do any gamma rays reach the surface of the earth?

Most won't. Very rarely, some might, but it is not possible to detect them as really really really too rare.

And if so isn't space supposed to be empty?

In average, space is empty. But there is stuff in it here and there.

what's stopping gamma rays from reaching the atmosphere ?

Gamma rays can reach the atmosphere. The atmosphere is actually the stuff protecting us from them :)

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