Why is glass transparent to light




















Support: support embibe. General: info embibe. About Quartz: Quartz is often found in the sand out of which most types of glass products are made. Amorphous Solid: Amorphous solid is basically a solid material with a chaotic structure of liquid which allows to freely fill in many gaps.

The Real Reason for Glass to be Transparent For that we need to go all the way down to the subatomic level, you may know that an atom consists of a nucleus with electrons orbiting around it. That means that the light waves transmit smoothly, not bouncing off different directions. Although the individual atoms in the glass would scatter the light in different directions, just as a stick in water will scatter a water wave.

However if you put a lot of regularly placed sticks in water, much closer than the wavelength of the water wave, the scattered waves from the different sticks will not be in phase except in the forward and backward directions. That means that when you add the waves in other directions the crests and troughs will cancel.

Something very similar happens for light hitting glass. Some of the light bounces back from the surfaces and some transmits through. In between these bands are regions, known as band gaps , where energy levels for electrons don't exist at all. Some materials have larger band gaps than others. Glass is one of those materials, which means its electrons require much more energy before they can skip from one energy band to another and back again.

Photons of visible light — light with wavelengths of to nanometers, corresponding to the colors violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red — simply don't have enough energy to cause this skipping.

Consequently, photons of visible light travel through glass instead of being absorbed or reflected, making glass transparent. At wavelengths smaller than visible light, photons begin to have enough energy to move glass electrons from one energy band to another.

For example, ultraviolet light, which has a wavelength ranging from 10 to nanometers, can't pass through most oxide glasses, such as the glass in a window pane. This makes a window, including the window in our hypothetical house under construction, as opaque to ultraviolet light as wood is to visible light. Sign up for our Newsletter!

Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Physical Science. Chemical Processes and Tests. What Makes Glass Transparent? That glass window is doing what it does best — keeping the inclement weather out while still permitting light to pass through. The substance absorbs the photon. This occurs when the photon gives up its energy to an electron located in the material.

Armed with this extra energy, the electron is able to move to a higher energy level, while the photon disappears. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why is glass transparent? Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 7 months ago. Active 2 years, 2 months ago. Viewed k times. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. There are important differences in these absorption possibilities: Atoms absorb well-defined discrete frequencies.

Usually single atoms absorb only a few frequencies - it depends on the energetic spectrum of its electrons. Regarding atomic absorption, the graph of absorption plotted as a function of frequency of light contains well-defined peaks for frequencies when absorption occurs, and no absorption at all between them.

Molecules absorb discrete frequencies but there are many more absorption lines because even a simple molecule has many more energetic levels than any atom. So molecules absorb much more light. Crystalline lattices may absorb not only discrete frequencies but also continuous bands of frequencies, mainly because of discrepancies in the crystalline structure.

Improve this answer. Do other type of photons behave like visible light i. When You try to analyse light and matter interactions there is many process to take into account. But from the form of the question I presume You need a basic level answer. Real interaction is quantum one in absorption-emission area, but may be wave dynamic in certain frequencies - for example interference should be analysed etc.

It is rather complicated when You would like to take account on all phenomena which may occur. In spite of being non-crystalline, glasses too have bands. Show 2 more comments. Marek Marek That is why glass is not only transparent but also preserves images for eg.



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