Final answer:
The eyes take about 15 minutes to fully adapt to darkness, involving pupil dilation. This adaptation is comparable to the eye's accommodation for close and distant vision, with normal power changing from 50.0 to 54.0 diopters.
Step-by-step explanation:
It takes approximately 15 minutes for the eyes to reach maximum dark adaptation. Dark adaptation involves the pupils of the eyes opening up as much as possible to allow maximum light intake in low-light conditions, similar to what happens when you enter a dark movie theater. As time passes, you're able to see more clearly as your pupils dilate.
This process can be compared to how the eye adjusts for close and distant vision through accommodation. The power of the eye for distant vision (totally relaxed) is typically about 50.0 D and increases to 54.0 D (fully accommodated) for close vision, showing an 8% ability to accommodate.
As people age, they may develop presbyopia, affecting their ability to accommodate for close vision, often corrected with converging lenses such as reading glasses.