Why do TV CSIs use only flashlights - even for the initial/cursory search? Why not just turn the lights on?
594310
I blame thew X-Files.  Completely illogical, but it creates atmosphere.\n\nRemember - real life is on your side of the screen.
705303
Safety, colour, energy efficiency, use of the space, luminosity, age of room users, dimming and mood, position of bulbs, light shades.\n\nFluorescents are more energy efficient than incandescents (20% compared to 5%) so they are cheaper.\n\nAreas for close up work should be lit more brightly. Intensity decreases according to distance from bulb^2 so intensity 2 m from a bulb is 1/4 of intensity at 1m.\n\nOlder people need more light. A 50 year old needs four times as much light as a 10yr old for the same task (This is why children can read by torchlight under the bed.) Make sure the occupant of a desk does not shadow their light source.\n\nIncandescent bulbs have more red -yellow in their emission spectrum, fluorescents vary but white ones are similar to daylight. Note: the apparent colours of furnishings can change dramatically with a slightly different colour bulb.\n\nFeature lighting can be used to highlight objects eg plants, books, artworks on a shelf, hidden strip lights (eg under pelmets) soften the strip light.\n\nIn many settings, several wall mounted lights create a better atmosphere than a single central light.\n\nCheck that light shades don't colour the light or cast annoying / weird shadows around the room. This is more likely if the light is the only source in the room
1143628
Make it about crime scene investigation - that seems to be all the rage. I personally don't watch those shows, though, I like TV that is creative and unique. For example: Wonderfalls, Firefly, Dead Like Me and The Pretender,
563678
You are so not the only one.  I mean what the hell is that light supposed to be when the magnet gets strong?  The others have whispering powers?  And are masters with the blow gun?  Now was that Desmonds ex playin the lady connected to the ominous yellow phone?  Is this show really about her snow globe controlled universe?  I could continue asking ?'s because that's all this show gives you.
827015
watch csi as mutch as you can
769
For forensic reasons but also for the effect of the show. Psychologically our minds view dark places with more suspense and anticipation. It is exploring the unknown. If you think about other movies or shows that explore the crime scene in daylight it simply does not have the same suspense factor.
829997
Perhaps a light wouldnt work under the extreme conditions of a freezer :D
532433
As the old saying goes "what comes around goes around." There are only so many ideas that people can come up with before they are considered ridiculous. Once the new ideas run out, they have to rehash the old ones and make them new again. Notice that in the 80's and up to the mid 90's sitcoms were the most popular? As they were in the 50's and 60's. Then in the late 60's the television cop made an appearance. Followed by another and another.... It's just gone full circle. I looooove CSI, don't you?
524258
Good point! \nCongratulations, that's got me thinking. Ouch!\n\nCould it have something to do with maintaining the frozen goods in the freezer, which obviously is less important in a fridge. Afterall, when the light comes on in the fridge it produces kinetic energy that turns the light into heat which could linger trapped inside once the door is shut again. \n\nWell, that's my feeble attempt at an answer. It would just drive me crazy otherwise!
1032269
Because the lights are off!\n\nhttp://www.total-knowledge.com/~willyblues/
873346
Interesting thought.\n\nThe first answer is right for leaving a point source, I would think. Most flashlights have a source and a parabolic mirror. Light from the focus of a parabola reflected off the surface will come out in parallel beams.\n\nLet's change your question to a flashlight giving out a nearly instantaneous pulse of light. I think we would see 2 pulses coming out of the light. The first would be a spherical shell from the light coming out directly, without reflecting off the parabola. Following that would be another pulse from the reflected light. I believe this would be slightly concave, since the path followed by the light towards the middle would have a slightly longer path to follow. \n\nThis is making a few simplifying assumptions, such as a point source for light and a perfect parabola. I would imagine in reality the distributed nature of the lightbulb would make for an irregular shape.
1046084
TVs use cathode ray tubes to provide the picture, they need time to "warm up" before you can see the picture.  The speakers that relay the sound though are basically instantaneous.
183288
Everyone above is more or less correct - CSIs are actually the people that collect evidence from the scene itself.  They are generally not the people that do the fun experiments in the lab, as it takes a separate skill set to handle and analyse organic material than it does to collect that material without contamination and provide real-time analysis to law enforcement.\n\nThe most obvious difference between real CSIs and the ones you see on TV are that, first, they very rarely speak to suspects or 'do' a whole case; a blood spatter expert may very well just analyse one blood spatter after another, handing out reports stating that this spatter came from this angle, inflicted by an object with such-and-such mass...  a geneticist may extract and analyse DNA from several cases at once without any information as to what effect their results will have on a given case, etc.  \n\nThe most substantial difference between real life and TV, however, is the time factor.  In many parts of North America, the processing time for many lab results is extremely high.  Every week the CSI team barrels through another case; in reality, a single homicide could tie up a small staff for several years, and the suspects very, very rarely confess - a lab tech could spend two years working on a blunt-object murder, wait another three years for appeals to come to an end, and see a suspect whom they've never met locked up for five years while still proclaiming his innocence.  Not quite as fulfilling as TV would have us think.
583117
CSI CSI CSI CSI and more CSI.
172519
Sorry....that is not correct.  LCD's do NOT emit light.\n\n\nYou see LCD technology does not itself emit light. you either must have enough ambiant light to see, or it must be 'back-lit'. The Technology formmerly used to do this was CCFL or Cold Cathode Forescent Lamp, these failed in 2 different ways as they aged.\n\n1. the light would get darker as it aged. Some would even change color therby messing-up the colors the display rendered.\n\nand\n\n2. As the bulb ages, it requires more and more power to engergize it. Eventually it will reach a point where the amperage required to start the lamp, will exceed the capacity the circut it is on can provide and simply not light.\n\nIf you've ever seen this, or suspect that this is your problem (display won't light, or goes dark shortly after starting,) simply shine a bright light source directly into the display, you should see faintly whatever the desktop was diplaying at the time.....or your desktop if it never came on to begin with.\n\nCurrent Backlight technology uses white LED lights....far better.\nthe BEST ones use 3 LED lights....1 each of Red Blue and Green, much much better at displaying the full color spectrum.\n\nHope that helps !\n\nPS: the FLASHLIGHT you have.....is an LED flashlight, I would wager. I have one too, they're great !  $27 bucks though.\n\nPPS: more like 100,000 hours.\n\n\nto poster below....the current back-lighting method IS LED, the fact that it is also used in Thin Film Transister Displays does not really make a difference to this question.\ncheck your facts. oh and your 'plasma' info is waaaaaay off.\none year!  ha.
1007716
look into majoring in forensic anthropology (dead people) or forensic archeology (crime scene) search for Forensic Science in your favorite search engine.  I think you're interested in what they do on CSI, right?
483012
Because lights bother other motorists at night, (some can't be seen by others), but many complaints from other motorists about the novelty lights in vehicles...they say makes it hard to see  All but 6 states made them illegal to have in the car.  They also say that it is distracting for hte driver in the vehicle in which the lights are present.  Dont' really understand their point of view on that, but we can't make the laws, just abide by them