Eli5 Why does oil make paper transparent?
In: 7
Paper is mostly cellulose fibers. Cellulose is transparent but, because it’s in so many tiny fibers, it looks white to us because the light bounces around like crazy. This is the same reason that snow looks white even though ice is transparent.
When we soak the paper in transparent oil we cover up all those air-cellulose boundaries. It’s like soaking a snowball in water. Basically, all we’re seeing now is the oil and the mostly transparent cellulose fibers mostly disappear.
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