What Makes a Material Translucent?

To say that a material is translucent is to say that light may pass through that material, but images on the other side of that material are not clearly visible. Translucent materials allow us to focus our attention on the quality of the light that passes through them, rather than being focused on the imagery that is on the other side.

What Makes A Material Opaque?

When resonance occurs between a light wave and an object, the object absorbs the energy of that light wave. The light energy stays inside the object when resonance occurs, but what about when resonance does not occur? What happens to light waves that are reflected off the object or transmitted through the object? In this lesson, we're going to study light waves a little further in order to understand transparency and opacity.

What Makes A Material Transparent?

When light encounters a material, it can interact with it in several different ways. These interactions depend on the wavelength of the light and the nature of the material. Photons interact with an object by some combination of reflection, absorption and transmission. Some materials, such as plate glass and clean water, transmit much of the light that falls on them and reflect little of it; such materials are called optically transparent.