My 7yo snapped the clip off of a transparent pink plastic pen. He noticed that at the place where it broke, the transparent pink plastic became opaque white. Why does that happen (instead of it remaining transparent throughout)?
This is best illustrated by the pic I took of the [broken pen](https://imgur.com/S8rasqb).
In: Physics
Ok, here is the ELI5:
Well matter is compose by small balls (atoms), that balls are arranged in basic shapes like cubic and rectangles, OR can have a “random” arrange.
Ok so plastics can have a mix of a part that have a basic shape AND random; OR can be all random arrange.
So now any material to be transparent/translucent it have to have a high %% of ONLY one of the 2 arrangements (random or basic shape), transparent plastics have in general a high %% random one (if not 100%).
This occurs in a natural way, for them, if you cut it, it can or can’t change in the edges (depending on how you cut it). If you stretch it, the balls start rearrange, losing his natural positions so it became les translucent/More opaque.
This is due the diffraction of light into the material.
Hope it is enough ELI5. Of course this is a bit more complex.
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