How does a Polaroid camera work, and can a solar system have two stars?
Film was traditionally developed in special solutions in darkrooms, so how are polaroid photos developed in a few seconds?
Photos taken on film usually require film rolls, a darkroom, and light-sensitive chemicals to be developed. A polaroid camera unites all the elements of the process in its interior by including film and chemicals in the same paper.
In a film camera, the film reacts as light is admitted through the lens, producing a negative – an image, in which the light of the subject appears in its own complementary colours. Red becomes cyan, green is magenta, and blue turns yellow. In a darkroom, light is shone onto the negative, and the photo emerges on
photographic printing paper. The chemicals of the photo paper are extremely sensitive to light, and so, the development must take place in complete darkness.
A polaroid camera is a fast-working darkroom, in
which light is only admitted briefly after pressing the shutter release button. The light produces a negative on a piece of layered film, while the two rolls that push the paper out of the camera add chemicals, which fill out the areas of the the negative that have not already reacted. A few seconds later, the camera has produced a photo.