Light and Sensors

Most light sensors detect light that is:

• Emitted or given off from an object, such as the sun or a light bulb,
• Reflected from surfaces, and
• Transmitted through objects.

The following animation shows how three common light sensors detect light.

Animation by Ling Hsiao, Museum of Science, Boston.

So what we see with our eyes and detect with machines depends on basically four factors:

1. The quality of light available, especially the intensities of light emitted by the Sun,
2. The impact of light traveling through the atmosphere, provided we are living on Earth,
3. The impact of light reflecting from and transmitted through objects, and
4. The quality of the light sensor.

Scientists and engineers have spent many decades studying each of these factors.

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