Question

How can light interact with wood

Answer 1

Answer:

Light interacts with wood through it's particle nature.

Explanation:

LIGHT has dual nature properties . It behaves with waves as a wave and with particles as a particle .

Light can interact with matter in three ways: absorption, transmission, and reflection.

1. ABSORPTION :

• When a light wave with a identical frequency to an electron’s natural frequency “impinges” upon an atom, the electrons will begin to vibrate as a result .
• The electrons will absorb the light wave and turn it into a vibrational motion . The electrons, in turn, bump up against neighboring atoms, which changes the vibrations intothermal energy .
• This thermal energy is not turned back into light energy, thus that particular light wave never leaves the object again. This is ABSORPTION.

    2. REFLECTION :

• This occurs when the frequency of the incoming light wave does not match that of the electrons’ natural frequency.
• If the object is opaque , the electron vibrations are not “passed down” like during absorption.
• Rather, the surface-level electrons vibrate briefly before emitting that wave back out (as light). This is REFLECTION.

    3. TRANSMISSION :

• Transmission works along the same lines as reflection, except it involves transparent or semi-transparent objects.
• The atoms taken in the wave, vibrate briefly (but at a small amplitude) , transfer the vibrations throughout the body of the material, and then re-emit the wave as light out the other end. This is TRANSMISSION.