When we light the lamp of a room .Where does the darkness go?

Question

I asked my father . He replied : Under the sofa -.-

Why has it to go anywhere? Darkness is just the absense of light, not a physical entity in itself. — ACuriousMind, Feb 12 '15 at 18:33
When you fill a cup with water, where does the empty space go? Or when you turn on music, where does the silence go? — Ruslan, Feb 12 '15 at 18:54

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 12 '15 at 18:39

Darkness is nothing, it is not a physical entity. Darkness is what you have when there are no/very less photons, and thus you can't see anything. When you light a lamp, the photons from the lamp bounce all over the room, and hence the darkness "disappears", so to speak. Absence of light doesn't exist when there is presence of light.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 12 '15 at 18:41

I'm not sure if this is worth an answer but anyway-

darkness is not a physical entity in itself. It is simply where light isn't. As it is not an entity, it doed not have to go anywhere when you turn on a light, it just seizes to exist as light enters the place where beforehand it wasn't.

When we light the lamp of a room .Where does the darkness go?

2 Answers2