Nov
08
Why Can’t You See To The Bottom Of A Very Clear, Deep Pool?
ByWell, Hanna, how do we “see” anything?
Yes, you are right! Light strikes an object and then enters our eyes. Now, what happens to light as it travels through water? Right, again. It is slowly but surely absorbed by the water molecules and impurities. If the column of water is deep enough that the light has to travel through, it is absorbed either on the way down to the bottom, or on the way back up. In either case, no light reaches our eyes. What color is something which absorbs all light? Right yet again! Black. So, the bottom appears black. Or rather, we can’t see the bottom since there is no light coming out to his our eyes from the very bottom.
HTH
Charles
2 Comments
November 8th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Light doesn’t reach that far down.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Sooner or later, impurities in the water obscure the bottom. Take Lake Tahoe, for instance, one of the “clearest” lakes in the world. You can see the bottom everywhere but in the deepest part of the lake.