why do different materials reflect different wavelengths? Also does this mean that everything is actually colorless and color is a function of reflecting light only?
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What do you define as color? If you take light out of the equation, everything is pitch black; there’s no color because there’s no medium to carry the color. So in that sense, yes, everything is colorless without light in the same sense that everything is dry without water.
Different materials reflect/refract different wavelengths based on how the bonds in the molecules are arranged/structured. Different bond lengths will emit different wavelengths of light when the electrons are excited by an incoming photon. Those wavelengths determine the “color” of the emitted photon, and thus what color you perceive the object to be.
What do you define as color? If you take light out of the equation, everything is pitch black; there’s no color because there’s no medium to carry the color. So in that sense, yes, everything is colorless without light in the same sense that everything is dry without water.
Different materials reflect/refract different wavelengths based on how the bonds in the molecules are arranged/structured. Different bond lengths will emit different wavelengths of light when the electrons are excited by an incoming photon. Those wavelengths determine the “color” of the emitted photon, and thus what color you perceive the object to be.
What do you define as color? If you take light out of the equation, everything is pitch black; there’s no color because there’s no medium to carry the color. So in that sense, yes, everything is colorless without light in the same sense that everything is dry without water.
Different materials reflect/refract different wavelengths based on how the bonds in the molecules are arranged/structured. Different bond lengths will emit different wavelengths of light when the electrons are excited by an incoming photon. Those wavelengths determine the “color” of the emitted photon, and thus what color you perceive the object to be.
Color is a human experience – it is what happens in your brain as a response to light. The same dress may be different colors to different people in different lightings.
Materials may reflect, pass, or absorb light. An uneven surface can turn reflection and passing into scattering – a white appearance.
Why a material may prefer to do one of these over another for specific frequencies depends on a ton of things. A common one is “does the energy of that frequency correspond to an energy level change in the material?”
For instance, CO2 molecules can vibrate a certain way, and this vibration carries the same energy as a 10,600 nm photon, so it will absorb those photons.
Color is a human experience – it is what happens in your brain as a response to light. The same dress may be different colors to different people in different lightings.
Materials may reflect, pass, or absorb light. An uneven surface can turn reflection and passing into scattering – a white appearance.
Why a material may prefer to do one of these over another for specific frequencies depends on a ton of things. A common one is “does the energy of that frequency correspond to an energy level change in the material?”
For instance, CO2 molecules can vibrate a certain way, and this vibration carries the same energy as a 10,600 nm photon, so it will absorb those photons.
Color is a human experience – it is what happens in your brain as a response to light. The same dress may be different colors to different people in different lightings.
Materials may reflect, pass, or absorb light. An uneven surface can turn reflection and passing into scattering – a white appearance.
Why a material may prefer to do one of these over another for specific frequencies depends on a ton of things. A common one is “does the energy of that frequency correspond to an energy level change in the material?”
For instance, CO2 molecules can vibrate a certain way, and this vibration carries the same energy as a 10,600 nm photon, so it will absorb those photons.
>Also does this mean that everything is actually colorless and color is a function of reflecting light only?
No. The colour of something is just what we call the light it reflects. Saying “that plant is green” is saying that it reflects green light.
The fact that colour is a function of reflecting light doesn’t make it any less real. Colour exists only in the brain, but a lot of very real things exist only in the brain.
>Also does this mean that everything is actually colorless and color is a function of reflecting light only?
No. The colour of something is just what we call the light it reflects. Saying “that plant is green” is saying that it reflects green light.
The fact that colour is a function of reflecting light doesn’t make it any less real. Colour exists only in the brain, but a lot of very real things exist only in the brain.
>Also does this mean that everything is actually colorless and color is a function of reflecting light only?
No. The colour of something is just what we call the light it reflects. Saying “that plant is green” is saying that it reflects green light.
The fact that colour is a function of reflecting light doesn’t make it any less real. Colour exists only in the brain, but a lot of very real things exist only in the brain.
Well ever thought about the fact that things don’t really look like anything if there is no one to see them. We are just creating images from electromagnetic waves. Its not even our eyes doing the “seeing” its our brain interpreting what our eyes detect. Same with hearing, thats why optical and audio illusions are possible.
Different material reflect some wavelengths more some less. Color is a way to interpret wavelength. Same with hearing high or low sounds thats also a way to interpret the wavelength of sound waves.
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