Have you ever tried to figure out how cops are able to undercover some criminals’ enclosure, or they are able to fight some terrorists and the like at nighttime? Have you ever wondered about how firefighters are able to do their search and rescue operations when all that surrounds them are darkness and smoke? Well, they perform these tasks through the aid or help of some night vision devices such as a night vision goggle and other night vision gears, which are of extreme help when seeing the dark or at nighttime too.
In addition to all that, have you also ever wondered about how does night vision really works? If yes, then you have come to the perfect place to know about it.
Here, we have prepared a detailed yet simple explanation about how night vision works for you to have a better understanding of it.
What is the definition of Night Vision?
Night Vision is sometimes called nocturnal vision too. For some, it can also be referred to as a dark vision.
To give you a simple explanation about what it is, it is simply just the capability or the ability to see during nighttime or during very dark conditions either outdoors or indoors—indoors is also included since there are also dark parts of inside a house once the sun has already set.
With this ability, a person or an animal or an insect would be able to see at night or in dark conditions once they have to do some activities or tasks.
This is really a great benefit to have, especially for people such as hunters, firefighters, and also police officers since all these men usually go out at night to fulfill the tasks assigned to them.
The night vision or nocturnal vision is also beneficial for nocturnal animals who usually go out at night to hunt and catch their prey. Besides those two benefits, there are still a lot more benefits that people and animals can get from having night vision.
How is Night Vision made possible?
The night vision ability is actually made possible through the aid of two main reasons—the biological structure and the technological inventions.
As mentioned above, there are animals who are born to be nocturnal, meaning to say they are sleeping all the time during bright conditions while they are awake at night.
With that ways of living, the biological structures of their eyes are made to have the ability to see at night in order for them to adapt easily in totally dark situations.
Some of the examples of animals that have excellent night vision are cats, dogs, foxes, goats, lemurs, and many other more.
In addition, some of the creatures found in the deepest part of the seas have the eye that is made to have night vision too, since there is only a very little amount of light in the deepest parts of the seas.
Another reason that makes these animals see excellently at night is that they have an additional tissue layer found in their eyes; this specific layer is called the tapetum lucidum.
Animals who have this layer of tissue are known to push more amount of light into their eyes in order for them to see better and brighter in the dark.
The second means to have night vision is technological inventions. The minds of people such as scientists and researchers are really amazing and limitless when it comes to the ideas, inventions, and new discoveries that they make.
With that said, they have also come up with a means in order for people to have night vision, too, just like some animals. They have invented night vision technology that can be seen in a lot of devices and gadgets nowadays.
Some of these gadgets and devices are night vision goggles, night vision monoculars, night vision binoculars, night vision cameras, night vision camcorders, night vision scopes, and many other more.
These technological means are specifically made for people to see better at night.
The way that people and animals acquire night vision is very different. Animals have it naturally in the structure of their eyes, while people need the aid of some technological advances in order to have it.
Does Night Vision depend on Color?
If you have also been wondering if night vision somehow depends on some colors or not, the answer to that is yes.
One of the main and simple explanations for that is there are colors that are much more visible in the darkness, unlike some other colors.
For example, you are walking on a very dark road, and you see two guys approaching you. The first one wears a white-colored shirt while the second one wears a black colored shirt.
When they are still very far from you, the first one that you will surely notice is the one wearing the white-colored shirt since it is much more visible in the dark when compared to the black one.
Even when you are near those two guys, the white-colored shirt will attract your vision more than the black one. So, that is why night vision somehow depends on some colors.
In a Nutshell
Night vision is the ability to see objects, places, and other things in the dark or in the night. As you have read above, there are two means of having this type of ability.
The first one is biological means, while the second one is the technological means. Biological means can be observed in animals since night vision is innate to them, meaning to say, some of them are really born to have it.
While technological means can be observed in people through the use of night vision devices that are invented.
It is really beneficial to have night vision or the ability to see in the dark since it has a ton of applications such as driving at night, hunting at night, military operations at night, security cameras installed for surveillance at night, walking at night, and many other more applications.