absorption of light

Phenomenon whereby light energy striking a medium may be partially or totally lost by not being transmitted, reflected, or scattered. For example, red wine appears red because it transmits, reflects, and scatters the red part of the spectrum but absorbs the yellow, green, and blue parts.

The absorbed light energy is transformed to heat but the amount of heat produced is normally too small to be noticed. Thus light absorption is responsible for many, though not all, of the colours seen in everyday objects.