eli5: why does glass absorb infrared and ultraviolet light, but not visible light?
In: Physics
Materials are made of atoms.
Each different type of atom, compound or molecule interacts with light differently.
This is mainly because of how their electrons are arranged around the atoms and molecules.
Some compounds absorb some frequencies of light and not others.
The atoms in glass used for windows don’t interact with visible light because their electrons aren’t arranged in a way to do so. But they do absorb UV. That’s why they’re good for windows!
Other glasses are good at absorbing X-rays and so are good to use in X-ray machines.
Things to google: electronic band structure & optical absorption
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