Light is like a playful kid who can run, jump, or slide when it meets something.
Imagine light as a bouncy ball rolling toward a wall. If the wall is black, the ball stops, that's absorbed. The wall takes all the energy from the ball, and nothing comes back. That’s why black things feel warmer, they take in more light.
If the wall is white, the ball bounces right back, that's reflected. You see this every day when you look in a mirror or see your white shirt glowing in sunlight.
Now imagine the ball rolls toward a window. It goes through the glass, but it changes direction a little, that’s refracted. Like when you put a spoon in water and it looks bent, the light is bending as it moves from air to water.
Sometimes light does more than one thing at once! A colored glass can both absorb some colors and refract others, making everything look like it's through a rainbow filter.
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See also
- What Causes a Volcano to Erupt?
- How Does a Battery Work?
- What Causes the Tides Exactly?
- How To Use An Abacus?
- Why Do We Have Different Seasons?