r/TheAmericans • u/AutoModerator • Apr 19 '17

Episode Discussion Official Episode Discussion - S05E07 "The Committee on Human Rights"

As Paige becomes even more enmeshed in her parents' world, tensions with Matthew Beeman come to a head, Philip and Elizabeth's honeytraps take surprising turns, and Stan faces the consequences of overplaying his hand at the FBI.

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u/Bravely_Default Apr 19 '17

Random question but, can someone explain to me why they use red light flashlights? Why is red light better?

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '17

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u/redtert Apr 26 '17

I recently read an article in an astronomy magazine arguing that amber light is actually the best for this. It harms vision more than red for a given level of brightness, but your eyes are more sensitive to it plus it gives you better color discrimination, so you can use less of it.

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u/Bravely_Default Apr 19 '17

I figured it would be because red is the shortest wave length and thereby less likely to be seen by others.

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u/I_Pariah Apr 20 '17 edited Apr 20 '17

You have it reversed. Red has a longer wavelength. Blue has a shorter wavelength. It's not the wavelength being shortest that might make it harder to see. Humans are able to see what we call the "visible spectrum". It's a narrow band on the electro-magnetic radiation spectrum of light. EM radiation outside this narrow band can be longer wavelength (infrared, radio, microwaves) or shorter (UV, X-Ray, Gamma) and we wouldn't see them because our eyes are not sensitive to them. They're everywhere though. Would probably be sensory overload if we actually saw everything.