Why are some solids transparent and some opaque?
In: Physics
The structure inside the object is a certain arraignment of atoms/molecules. If that structure happens to have the right spacing for visual wavelengths of light to pass through, its transparent. I
Light is made of photons, and the color is determined by the energy of said photons. An electron will absorb a photon only if it can use this energy to go to a higher energy orbital.
Those electronic orbitals have gaps, if you hit water with visible light those photons will be too energetic for the small transitions and not enough for the larger ones, they will all be within those energy gaps, so they pass through. But infrared and ultraviolet might be absorbed.
In a metal there is a continuum of possible electronic interactions in the visible range, so no visible light can pass. But for higher energies such as gamma rays, they might.
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