RE: Scientific facts that freak me out.
November 9, 2023 at 10:41 pm
(This post was last modified: November 9, 2023 at 10:54 pm by Anomalocaris.)
It is the distribution of the frequencies of the photos in the light hitting your eyes that determine what colors you see. How the photons in the light come to acquire the distribution of frequencies is determined by how they where emitted in the first place, and the refracting, scattering and absorption properties of material the photons interacted with after they had been emitted.
When you say the arrangement of atoms in a material determines what frequencies gets absorbed and what gets reflected, you forget what frequency actually impinge upon the material also govern what frequencies gets absorbed and what gets reflected. So the same arrangement of atoms at the same temperature will appear to the eye to be of a different color when it is shone upon by light of different color.
In addition, it not just the arrangement of atoms in chemical or crystalline sense that affect what frequencies gets reflected or absorbed. microscopic surface texture can create interference in the reflected light which also changes its what frequency is reflected, and what frequency is cancelled . In this case, the color of the light reflected off the surface depends on geometry of the wave interference from different parts of the surface, and thus the apparent color depends on viewing angle and angle of incident light.
When you say the arrangement of atoms in a material determines what frequencies gets absorbed and what gets reflected, you forget what frequency actually impinge upon the material also govern what frequencies gets absorbed and what gets reflected. So the same arrangement of atoms at the same temperature will appear to the eye to be of a different color when it is shone upon by light of different color.
In addition, it not just the arrangement of atoms in chemical or crystalline sense that affect what frequencies gets reflected or absorbed. microscopic surface texture can create interference in the reflected light which also changes its what frequency is reflected, and what frequency is cancelled . In this case, the color of the light reflected off the surface depends on geometry of the wave interference from different parts of the surface, and thus the apparent color depends on viewing angle and angle of incident light.
