What happens when light gets swallowed?

When light gets swallowed, it’s like when your favorite snack disappears into a bag and you can’t see it anymore.

Imagine you're in a dark room, and someone turns on a lamp, poof, the room is bright! That's light. Now imagine that same lamp is placed inside a big, black pillow. The pillow swallows the light, and suddenly the room goes back to being dark, even though the lamp is still on.

That’s what happens when light gets swallowed. It meets something that stops it from going through, like the black pillow. This thing is called an absorber, because it absorbs the light instead of letting it pass by.

Think about wearing a dark shirt in the sun. The shirt feels warm, right? That’s because it's absorbing the light and turning it into heat, just like your pillow swallowing the lamp’s light. Your shirt is acting like an absorber, too!

So next time you see something really dark, remember: it might be a quiet swallowing happening right there!