Anika Nicole, Wordsmith, PG In Journalism, New York
Answered Aug 22, 2018
Rods are photoreceptors that allow us to perceive the stars at night while cones allow us to see a yellow car during the day.
Basically, rods work at low intensity of light. It is highly responsible for low-intensity level visions. This means, only a few bits of light is required to activate a rod. On the other hand, cones are found in the center of our retina. They assist us to see and identify colors.
Rods are photoreceptors that allow us to perceive the stars at night, while cones allow us to see a yellow car during the day. Rods are responsible for vision at a low light level and cones are active in better-lit environments. Cones are also responsible for color vision whereas rods show only black and white. Rods also have a low spatial acuity, meaning they aren't great at determining fine details of any visual scene.
An easy way to remember the difference is that rod photoreceptors allow you to see shapes and cones allow you to see colors. There are 3 types of color-sensing cones: red, blue, and green. If you're missing one type, you're likely colorblind to an extent. These three types of cones make a total of 7 million and there are over 120 million rods in the eye.