why light can straight through the water as the water is colorless?

Question

if we say because of the substance...is it means that, the atoms in it are invisible? The Cu2+ solution is blue in color...then can we say that the H+ is colorless or invisible?

Answer 1

Light is thought of as being an electromagnetic wave (energy) and a particle at the same time, but the wave theory answers your question better. When an atom gains energy, the electrons are bumped up to a higher energy level, making them bounce around more. They keep this energy only briefly, though, because it is passed on to the surrounding environment. When it drops back down, it emits a little electromagnetic wave (a photon, a piece of light) which is passed on to the next atom (and occasionally nearby atoms that aren't on the main path). That's how light travels through a substance. In air, the particles are far apart, so light gets throughly quickly, whereas in water or a crystal, the particles are close together so it travels more slowly.

White light is comprised of colors from ultraviolet (invisible, but with a slightly higher frequency than violet light) to infrared (invisible, but with a slightly lower frequency than red light). If a Cu2+ solution is blue in color, that means the atoms absorb the red light, and when the electrons drop to a lower level, they shoot of a photon with the right frequency to make it blue.

And the light doesn't go straight through. First, it bends as it passes between substances of different densities. Second, it disperses (since the atoms don't alway shoot the photon towards the next atom directly in line). Think about your shadow. Some light from the sun hits you, so it doesn't hit the ground, whereas other light misses you, lighting up the ground. This gives a shadow roughly in your shape, but it doesn't have clearly defined edges - it's fuzzy. That's due to the random-shooting photons. And third, the water (or solution) almost certainly has tiny little waves that will bend the light just as surely as passing between different substances.

Answer 2

Hi. Actually only light of certain frequencies can travel thru water for any distance. If water were truly transparent you could see the bottom of the ocean even when the water was deep. But you can't because some of the light gets absorbed. It's dark at the bottom of the ocean. Glass is the same way. "White" light goes through it for some distance, ultraviolet is stopped in a very short distance. This is why it's very hard to get a tan through a closed window.

Answer 3

the "color" of something is a property of its shape structure

for instance, a pane of glass is colorless and transparent

if I scratch its surface enough I can make enough relfecting surfaces to make the glass opaque, if I grind up the glass I can make a pile of stuff that looks like white sand

the atomic structure of the new pane, the scratched pane, and the ground glass are all the same, it is sort of meaningless to talk about the "color" or transparency of the elements that are part of a compound or solution

"color" is a property of the whole compound or solution

Answer 4

One little addendum to this whole line of explanation: glass, strangely enough, is a liquid. If you look at really, really old window panes (100+ years), you will notice that the glass has begun to pool at the bottom of the pane.

In any event, the previous explanations really do manage to answer the whole question - light is absorbed, but only at a relatively small rate compared to a solid.

Answer 5

The water is any other colour but blue. You know
the rule - what ever colour we see is the colour
the object is not. (reflection)
And light passes through anything that is
in it's way.
Some of the questions are just to scientific for me.
There is always a simple answer.