Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

absorption

 

Transfer of energy from a wave to the medium through which it passes. The energy of the wave can be reflected, transmitted, or absorbed. If the medium absorbs only a fraction of the energy, it is said to be transparent to that energy. When all energy is absorbed, the medium is opaque. All substances absorb energy to some extent. For instance, the ocean appears transparent to sunlight near the surface, but becomes opaque with depth. Substances absorb specific types of radiation. Rubber is transparent to infrared radiation and X rays, but opaque to visible light. Green glass is transparent to green light but absorbs red and blue light. Absorption of sound is fundamental to acoustics; a soft material absorbs sound energy as the waves strike it.

For more information on absorption, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Architecture: absorption
Top


1. The process by which a liquid, or a mixture of gases and liquid, is drawn into and tends to fill permeable pores in a porous solid material; usually accompanied by a physical change, chemical change, or both, of the material.
2. The increase in weight of a porous solid body resulting from the penetration of liquid into its permeable pores.
3. The increase in weight of a brick or tile unit when immersed in either cold or boiling water for a stated length of time; expressed as a percentage of the weight of the dry unit.
4. The process by which radiant energy, which is incident on a surface, is converted to other forms of energy.
5. See sound absorption. 6. See light absorption.


Electronics Dictionary: absorption
Top

Loss or dissipation of energy as it travels through a medium, Example: radio waves lose some of their energy as they travel through the atmosphere.


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Electronics Dictionary. Copyright 2001 by Twysted Pair. All rights reserved.  Read more