- Why is a material translucent?
- Main features
- Examples
- The 9 most relevant translucent materials
- Differences between translucent materials and other materials
- References
The objects translucent are those which allow light to pass through these partially. When light hits translucent materials, only a little bit of it passes through them.
As a result, objects on the other side of a translucent material appear fuzzy and fuzzy.
Sometimes light can shine on materials that are not really clear, making these objects translucent.
A translucent material allows light to pass through, but prevents light from forming images. The object scatters the light when it enters; when the light is scattered, the image loses its focus.
Something is said to be translucent when a material is described as one in which an object can be seen, but the details of the object cannot be distinguished.
Unlike transparent objects (in which it is possible to see what is through them completely), translucent objects only allow you to partially see what is behind.
Some examples of these materials include wax paper, ground glass, and thin plastic sheets, among others.
A translucent material is one in which light passes through it, but images on the other side of the material are not clearly visible.
Unlike materials that transmit light without any appreciable attenuation or absorption, translucent materials possess certain physical properties and structures that cause light to diffuse as it passes through them.
Why is a material translucent?
Translucent materials allow the human eye to focus on the quality of light passing through them, rather than on the images on the other side.
When light passes through translucent objects, only a little of the light passes through. The light does not pass directly through the material; it changes direction many times and fades as it passes.
For this reason it is not possible to see clearly through this material; objects located on the other side of a translucent material appear to be out of focus and blurred.
Because translucent materials are semi transparent, some ultra violet rays can pass through.
That is why a person who is behind a translucent object (such as frosted glass) can burn their skin or get a tan if they do not use sunscreen.
Translucency is sometimes also known as semi-transparency, because it is a form of transparency. Transparency simply means that light passes through the material.
Main features
- A material is said to be translucent if light can partially pass through it.
- You can see partially through these objects. For this they can also be called partially transparent objects.
- The color of this material depends on the amount of light absorbed, scattered and reflected.
- An object on the other side of this material is visible only up to a point.
Examples
To understand what a translucent object is, the example of frosted glass or matte glass can be used.
When a window is made of this material, you can hardly see what is on the other side.
This is because partially absorbed light spreads in different directions. The light is concentrated inside the frosted glass as it is somewhat thick and allows light to pass through it, albeit in a diffuse way.
The 9 most relevant translucent materials
- Wax paper.
- Colored plastic bottle.
- Tracing paper.
- Frosted glass or matt glass.
- Plastic cup.
- Red balloon.
- Colored glass.
- Sunglasses.
- Tinted windows.
Differences between translucent materials and other materials
When light shines on an object, it can be reflected, transmitted or absorbed. Light hitting translucent materials diffuses and scatters.
It is common for the terms transparency and translucency to be used interchangeably; Both conditions allow light to be transmitted through the material.
But in reality these terms describe different ways in which light and images are seen through specific materials.
To say that a material is transparent is to say that light passes through that material and that the other's images of that object can be clearly seen as they are in real life.
A clear example of this situation is looking through a clean glass window; objects on the other side appear completely clear and are fully visible to the human eye.
But in a translucent material the light passes incompletely because its density is greater than that of transparent materials.
For this reason, if you want to observe through a translucent material, the object will not be completely clear; rather it will be seen as blurry.
That is why when looking through ground glass it is not possible to fully distinguish the images on the other side.
As opposed to these characteristics, opaque materials rather absorb all the light that hits them.
Since these materials are more dense, light cannot pass through; as a result, the objects behind them cannot be observed.
Opaque materials are much denser than translucent or transparent materials, so light cannot be transmitted.
References
- Translucent: definition and examples. Recovered from study.com
- Transparent, opaque and translucent objects (2014). Recovered from prezi.com
- Difference between translucent, transparent and opaque materials. Recovered from sciencestruck.com
- Opaque and translucent materials. Recovered from streaming.discoveryeducation.com
- What are examples of translucent objects? Recovered from reference.com
- Accurate transmission measurements of translucent materials. Recovered from photonics. com
- Color- transparent, translucent and opaque. Recovered from science.jrank.org