eli5: how do radio waves and other low frequency electromagnetic waves pass through materials?

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I’ve asked my physics teacher and looked it up a thousand times but i still dont understand it. What i understood from my physics teacher was that atoms are really far apart so some of the wave just “misses” them and goes right through but then wouldn’t light do the same thing?
I understand that x-rays and stuff are higher energy and can pass through materials for that reason but I don’t get why radio waves can do it and why light can’t.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Radio waves are light. Just like glass is transparent to visible light, lots of materials are transparent (or a little bit transparent) to other frequencies like FM radio or microwaves.

If you could see in the microwave range instead of visible light, the world would be largely transparent. Oh, and cell phone towers would be much brighter than the sun.

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