My 4 year old asked me and I think it’s a rather good question that I would like to answer so she understands. Thanks 🙏🏻
In: 1926
An object will absorb only certain wavelengths of light while allowing others to pass through. It just so happens the wavelengths that water doesn’t absorb coincides well with the wavelengths in visible light.
Things like bricks, concrete, wood, etc all have ranges of wavelengths that it cannot absorb and thus appear transparent for photons in those wavelengths, it’s just that those wavelengths are not visible to humans and therefore we cannot detect those photons that passes through. A camera that can detect photons in those ranges, such as an xray machine, would be able to see those objects as transparent.
Similarly, transparent objects to us might not necessarily be transparent in other wavelengths. For example, glass is opaque to infrared light. This is why sitting indoors behind a window in the sun feels much cooler than sitting outdoors in the sun even if it doesn’t look like there’s a difference.
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