We’re always told that darker stuff absorbs more light and heat and shinny stuff reflect it. How exactly though?
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Energy of light is determined by its frequency, E=hf. Frequency of light also determines its color. (Frequency and wavelength are interchangeable, c=fλ)
f=frequency, E=energy, h=Planck’s constant, c=speed of light, λ=wavelength
Every atom has orbitals, the energy states at which the electrons orbit. In order to move an electron from one orbital to another, it needs a very specific amount of energy. If it meets this energy requirement, it will absorb the photon, and reemit any excess energy as a different photon, usually not visible (in the case where it’s visible, we call this fluorescence)
Once you put a bunch of atoms together, the energy levels kind of get blurry, especially with molecules, and you start getting scattering of light, which is why not everything is mirror. The different bonds the atoms make with each other determines which wavelengths of light will bounce off, and which ones will be absorbed or pass straight through.
This is why you can have carbon be black as soot or graphite, or be clear in a diamond.
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