eli5 why do we see transparent objects if they let light pass through them
In: Physics
Most of the incoming light beams/photons pass directly through, right to your eyeballs.
But not all… depending upon the angle!
(When it comes to light and optics, it’s always “all about the angles”!)
A very small percentage of the photons will take more elaborate meandering indirect pathways that will make your brain essentially say:
“Wait up!? Hold on!? Something ain’t right here!”
So it those few tattle-tale photons that makes your brain realize there’s a structure or something between your eyes, and what you are seeing in the distance on average, is effectively perceived by looking through an interfering transparent plane.
They don’t let 100% of the light through them.
Take standard window glass as an example.
It’s clear, we can see through it, and yet we can also see that there’s something there, particularly when you look at it from and angle.
Glass has about an 88-90% transmittance (just means light passing through) of light, meaning 90%ish of the light passes through, but also that about 10% doesn’t.
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