Light waves are moving like crazy, and seem to be everywhere - from the sun, a light bulb, even in the microwave oven – carrying energy from one place to another. When that light hits something – a mirror, particles in the atmosphere, or that bag of popcorn – surprising things can happen.
Watch this video to find out more about how light waves, also called electromagnetic waves, interact with different materials.
Then, answer the question in the Take Notes box, below. You may read the transcript to the video, and watch the segment, as many times as you like.
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If you believe in magic, and even if you don’t, the interactions of light and matter are mind-bending.
Speaking of bending, light can do that: It’s called refraction. Check out the bending blue at the top of this water glass.
When it’s absorbed by matter, light causes so much heat it can cook a snack. Luckily, taller objects, like trees, absorb and block the sun’s heat, so we can lie in the shade.
Light can transmit—or go through—objects such as windows, and be reflected by the materials it hits.
And those amazing colors—the sky, the clouds, the sunsets? That’s light, hitting matter and scattering.
It might not be magic, but light—and the tricks it plays on matter—is science, which is the next best thing.
In this lesson you will learn some basic information about how light waves interact with materials. You’ll watch a short video and then three animations that explain what happens when light goes through objects, bounces off of them and gets soaked up or absorbed. After taking notes and online quizzes, you’ll have a chance to review and organize what you’ve learned. Then you will produce your own project in which you'll define and describe what happens to light waves when they encounter different materials.
Describe 3 different ways light can interact with matter. Note your answers in the box below. Click SAVE when you have finished. To see your saved or submitted work again, click MY WORK at the top of the page.