Name: ___________________________

Additional Notes
Transparent, Translucent and Opaque Materials

1) Depending on whether light can pass through them, materials can be

classified into 3 groups:
(a) transparent materials
(b) Translucent materials
(c) Opaque materials

2) Transparent materials allow the most light to pass through.

(a) Transparent materials can be made of clear glass or clear
plastic.
(b) Objects behind a transparent material can be seen clearly.
(c) Examples: glass, bottle, transparency sheet, light bulb, thermometer,
beaker, ice, spectacles.

Windsreen Aquarium

3) Translucent materials allow only some light to pass through.

(a) Examples of translucent materials are tracing paper, frosted glass
and certain types of plastic and thin cloth.
(b) Objects behind a translucent material cannot be seen clearly and
appeared blurred.
(c) Other examples: colored glass bottle, window pane, plastic bag,
plastic container.

Frosted glass Lampshade

4) Opaque materials do not allow any light to pass through.
(a) A shadow forms behind an opaque material when a light shines on it.
(b) Objects behind an opaque material cannot be seen at all.
(c) Wood, rubber, metals, some plastics and cloth are opaque materials.
(d) Examples: wall, hat, clothes, towel, box, paper, bag, book.

Umbrella Wooden door

How a prism works?

Dispersion is the splitting up of white light into seven colors on passing through a transparent
medium like a glass prism. When a white light beam is passed through a prism, a band of
seven colors are formed is known as spectrum of white light. The seven colors in the spectrum
are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet respectively.
The formation of spectrum of seven colors shows that white light is a mixture of seven colors
(or seven colored light). The effect of transparent medium (like glass prism) is only to separate
the seven colors of white light.
White light is a mixture of lights of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and
violet. The dispersion of light occurs because the angle of refraction (or the angle of bending)
of lights of different colors is different when passing through the transparent medium (glass
prism).

The rainbow is an arch of seven colors visible in the sky which is produced by the dispersion of
suns light by rainbow drops in the atmosphere. The rainbow is actually a natural spectrum of
sunlight in the sky. A rainbow is produced by the dispersion of white sunlight by raindrops (or
water drops) in the atmosphere. Each raindrop acts as a tiny glass prism splitting the sunlight
into a spectrum.

Remember RED light refracts the most and VIOLET the least. Red light has a longer
wavelength than violet light. The refractive index for red light in glass is slightly different than
for violet light. Violet light slows down even more than red light, so it is refracted at a slightly
greater angle.
Violet BENDS the most as it has the shortest wavelength.

How the eye sees the color of an object.

The Eye:

Photoreceptor cells - absorb light and generate nerve signals

Two types:

Rods

o very sensitive to dim light

o no color information
o => no color vision in dim light
Cones

o less sensitive to dim light

o provide color information
o three types
red - peak sensitivity to red light
green - peak sensitivity to green light
blue - peak sensitivity to blue light
o incoming light excites all three types to some extent - giving a perception of all
colors
The eye will see the color of light that is reflected back to the eye. All the other
colors are absorbed in the object.
Red apple appears read as red is reflected back to the eye and all the other colors
are absorbed by the apple.