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An object may be not transparent either because it reflects the incoming light or because it absorbs the incoming light. Almost all solids reflect a part and absorb a part of the incoming light. When light falls onto a block of metal , it encounters atoms that are tightly packed in a regular lattice and a " sea of electrons " moving randomly ...
Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals.For example, a liquid crystal can flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a common direction as in a solid.
Glass is a commonly encountered example of amorphous solids. Although amorphous materials lack long range order, they exhibit localized order on small length scales. [1] By convention, short range order extends only to the nearest neighbor shell, typically only 1-2 atomic spacings. [5] Medium range order may extend beyond the short range order ...
In nonmagnetic and transparent materials, χ ij = χ ji, i.e. the χ tensor is real and symmetric. [1] In accordance with the spectral theorem , it is thus possible to diagonalise the tensor by choosing the appropriate set of coordinate axes, zeroing all components of the tensor except χ xx , χ yy and χ zz .
Diffuse and specular reflection from a glossy surface. [1] The rays represent luminous intensity , which varies according to Lambert's cosine law for an ideal diffuse reflector. Diffuse reflection is the reflection of light or other waves or particles from a surface such that a ray incident on the surface is scattered at many angles rather than ...
For instance, some kinds of glass, while transparent in the visual range, are largely opaque to ultraviolet light. More extreme frequency-dependence is visible in the absorption lines of cold gases. Opacity can be quantified in many ways; for example, see the article mathematical descriptions of opacity.
In the 1930s work by A. H. Pfund, [3] suggested that although specular shininess is the basic (objective) evidence of gloss, actual surface glossy appearance (subjective) relates to the contrast between specular shininess and the diffuse light of the surrounding surface area (now called "contrast gloss" or "luster"). [non-primary source needed]
However, structural determinations of vitreous SiO 2 and GeO 2 made by Warren and co-workers in the 1930s using x-ray diffraction showed the structure of glass to be typical of an amorphous solid [7] In 1932, Zachariasen introduced the random network theory of glass in which the nature of bonding in the glass is the same as in the crystal but ...