Why does the light pass through the transparent glass?

Question

Why does the light pass through the transparent glass?

Answer 1

keyword: Transparent

i freakin wonder....................

Answer 2

lol, because it's transparent....that means light passes through it. Or in other words, most of the light is transmitted instead of being reflected and absorbed.

Answer 3

Actually that is a very good question.

Metals are not transparent because the electrons in the conduction band are free to move. This results in light (electro-magnetic radiation) being reflected.

Some substances contain atoms that have an electron structure that will permit the absorption of light at particular wavelengths. This often results in the absorption of light and heating of the material.

Glass reflects a small amount of light and refracts the rest. If the surface of the glass is smooth and flat the refraction is not noticeable. If the surface is rough light will be refracted and reflected in different directions and it will appear white. A pile of glass micro spheres does look white and is not transparent.

Glass is not a conductor and does not contain atoms that absorb visible light. Glass also does not have a regular structure that diffracts visible light. These factors make glass transparent if it has a smooth surface

Answer 4

This is an excellent question! Ignore the idiots with their 'because it's transparent, duh!' answers...

You're referring to visible light passing through 'transparent' glass, such as a window. Basically, light of this frequency range is not suitable for being absorbed as energy into the glass's atomic structure. Glass can be doped with certain atoms to make it absorb at certain frequencies, which is how you can make light absorb all except blue light ('blue glass').

Glass wont be transparent to all frequencies though. It just happens that it is transparent to the frequencies that we can 'see' with our eyes, and that's why we use it and call it 'transparent'.

If you read up on optical absorption that should give you a clearer view of the situation.