what happens to a molecule that absorbs energy from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum?

Answer 1

when a molecule absorbs energy from a visible spectrum, it will jump the electron (valence) up a notch, into a higher orbital... with this in mind, whatever it absorbs will indirectly determine its color due to the fact that it re-emits whatever it doesn't absorb... Eistein did a study on this, which is called the photo-electric effect on objects... with the analogy, a particular atom will only, only absorb a particular frequency/wavelength, regardless of intensity... if an atom absorb 570nm, and u shoot 580 nm, it will not absorb, regardless if u shoot it a million time... in addition to that, the Amount of absorbance will be in packets 'photons', and this can be measured later once after that electron jumps back down and re-emit back its energy... i gave too much info, but if u want to see a bigger picture, search for it..

Answer 2

Any time an atom (or molecule) absorbs a photon of electromagnetic energy, one of its electrons jumps up to a higher orbit. This higher orbit is the energy of the photon put into motion. The electron soon falls down and re-emits the energy as electromagnetic energy and/or heat.

Also, that molecule will have a color equal to white light minus all the energies it will absorb.

Answer 3

Two possibilities
The energy of the radiation is transformed in heat. this is the most usual case. or ,this energy corresponds exactly to the difference of energy of the ground state to the excited state of the molecule and the molecule becomes excited. The light is absorbed. This change also the color of the solution