Answer 1:
When we see the color of an object, what we
are really seeing is the light that has
reflected off of the objects surface. What
happens is this: white light (the normal ambient
light which is a mixture of several different
wavelengths of light included visible light
which we see as color) shines on a surface. The
surface will then absorb some of the wavelengths
of light and reflect the rest. The light that is
reflected reaches our eyes and this signal gets
processed by our brain as some color. The light
that is absorbed, however, gets converted to
internal energy in the object (heat energy). So,
if you want the object to absorb as much heat as
possible, then you want the object to absorb as
much of the light as possible. This in turn
means that it should reflect as little light as
possible. From this it makes sense that an
object which is black appears this way because
it has absorbed all of the visible light out of
the incident white light, and has therefore
converted the most incident light energy to
internal energy (heat). In other words, when
incident white light shines on an object and all
of the visible light is absorbed and converted
to heat energy, no visible light is reflected
off for you to see and so the object appears
black. This means that a black object absorbs
the most visible light and converts this light
energy to heat.
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