Why does clothing appear darker when it is wet, even though water is transparent?
In: Other
Objects reflect the light that hits them. Let’s say 100 pieces of light are hitting the T shirt. If it’s dry, then they splash out in many random directions, maybe 10 of them reach your eye, wherever it is. If it’s wet, then the light bounces in a “perfect” way instead, so you won’t see as much light unless you’re looking at the perfect angle. At the perfect angle you’ll get 90 pieces, but anywhere else you’ll get probably less than 1.
Imagine we’re at the playground and I try to pass you a tennis ball by bouncing it on the ground. If the ground is rough like asphalt, then the balls hits the ground and goes in some random direction. So it doesn’t really matter where you’re standing, sometimes a tennis ball will bounce that way. But if we’re in the gym where the floor is smoother, then all the tennis balls will bounce in one direction, so if you’re standing in another direction, then you won’t get any. In this analogy the tennis balls represent light, and the ground represents the T shirt, smooth = wet.
For a higher level explanation, check out this [university-level computer graphics video](https://youtu.be/GOfzX7kRwys?list=PLplnkTzzqsZTfYh4UbhLGpI5kGd5oW_Hh&t=1058) timestamp around 20 minutes.
Latest Answers