Light meeting obstacles(Exposition)

Three possibilities

What happens when light travels through the air and hits something, such as a table, mirror, window, or curtain? Various outcomes are possible.

There's a sharing out amongst the three possibilities.

The height of the orange arrows shows the brightness of the beam before and after it hits the grey square.

If the thing is:

• Opaque: no light is transmitted (the light is reflected and absorbed to varying degrees).
• Translucent: some light is transmitted (the rest of the light is reflected and absorbed to varying degrees).
• Transparent: ideally all light is transmitted (although in practice some light will be reflected and absorbed).

Opaque things cast distinct shadows as they block the light beams.