One Important question disturbing me ..!! Can you answer it??

India
February 13, 2008 4:47am CST
Well its not me that curious about things in life but its one of friend who asked me this question and I am still answerless. SO here it is.. "Why is it when it gets wet things get darker?? while water is colourless..!!???" Why wet things appear darker than their actual colour? :)
3 people like this
5 responses
@balasri (26537)
• India
13 Feb 08
An object made up of several layers interact differently with the light and then the overall perception of colour will be dependent on the overall nature of light received by the eyes from the object. If you have some cotton fabric there are indeed two such layers, one of the loose surface fibers and the second one of the actual surface of cloth. The upper layer doesn't absorb significantly waves of any particular wavelengths, they only scatter the light falling on them. When this scattered light adds up to the reflected light from the opaque object, the result is the perception of a lighter tint. When the layer is removed, like if the cloth is soaked in water, the color is perceived to be darker. Most object have rough surfaces so we "see" the object by light from all directions that is reflected (diffuse reflection) in the direction of our eyes. When an objects is wet the water fills in the roughness so the light incident on it is reflected in only one direction like from a mirror or a piece of glass, so usually less light is reflected in the direction of our eyes so it looks darker. Objects that already have smooth shiny surfaces do not look darker when wet.
3 people like this
• India
13 Feb 08
thanks for the terrific answer ..that is why only cloths and kind of cloths get darker those who are with fibers.. else metals never dose..!! thanks. :)
1 person likes this
@cupid74 (11388)
• Pakistan
13 Feb 08
Ha ha ha Stella nice post and sure its after long time well ur observation is correct and the reason of it as far as i know is Reflection u know that we see color when its reflected from surface, some color they absorb and some they reflect. so when it get wets so reflection from that object is not as dry one so color look darker, though water has no color hope it solve the mystery for u and i am sure their would be others to give u information Take care
2 people like this
• India
13 Feb 08
SO when thing is dry it reflects colour easily and when its wet it doesn't ..it starts absrobing it..?? that makes it look darker..???
1 person likes this
• India
13 Feb 08
and heyy why are your laughing ..????? :)
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@cupid74 (11388)
• Pakistan
13 Feb 08
Yeah u can say so and i was laughing as i was glad to see u after long time u know i am ur ----- Lol
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@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
13 Feb 08
That is a very interesting question, one that I have never really thought about before, one of the things we take for granted and usually don't even think about, I hope some clever person can answer this....
• India
13 Feb 08
seriously I AM looking forward for a good answer here...... :)
1 person likes this
@RobinJ (2501)
• Canada
13 Feb 08
well the answer is quite simple , it is because of light reflecting off an object, water amplifies the color and if the object is dry it doesn't have the reflective quality of water, think how dazzling a body of water is when it is sunny and then cloudy, at is all about reflecting light
@dorcam (320)
• Malta
14 Feb 08
It's called reflection the coulours reflect, that's why darker
2 people like this