eli5: why does glass absorb infrared and ultraviolet light, but not visible light?
In: Physics
Due to how electromagnetic waves (light) interact with atoms, many/most materials can block/absorb some wavelength ranges and other wavelengths pass through them. For example wifi signals can pass through walls to some thickness.
Glass just happens to pass through the range which human eyes can see. If humans had evolved to see in a different wavelength range, may be glass would be an opaque material like ceramic and iron or copper would be a see through material. The tags infrared, UV and visible are just based on human vision and have nothing special about them with respect to electromagnetic waves.
Latest Answers