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late 16th century (in the Latin sense): from Latin translucent - 'shining through', from the verb translucere, from trans - 'through' + lucere 'to shine'. [citation needed] late Middle English opake, from Latin opacus 'darkened'. The current spelling (rare before the 19th century) has been influenced by the French form. [citation needed]
An opaque object is neither transparent (allowing all light to pass through) nor translucent (allowing some light to pass through). When light strikes an interface between two substances, in general, some may be reflected, some absorbed, some scattered, and the rest transmitted (also see refraction).
For example, transparent ceramic armor consisting of a lightweight composite has been formed by utilizing a face plate of transparent alumina Al 2 O 3 (or magnesia MgO) with a back-up plate of transparent plastic.
At least one surface must be angled — elements with two parallel surfaces are not prisms. The most familiar type of optical prism is the triangular prism, which has a triangular base and rectangular sides. Not all optical prisms are geometric prisms, and not all geometric prisms would count as an optical prism.
These crystals were formed into a large solid cone for transport and sale. This solid sugar cone had to be broken into usable chunks using a sugar nips device. People began to notice that tiny bursts of light were visible as sugar was "nipped" in low light, an established example of triboluminescence.
The earliest known glass objects were beads, perhaps created accidentally during metalworking or the production of faience, which is a form of pottery using lead glazes. Due to its ease of formability into any shape, glass has been traditionally used for vessels, such as bowls , vases , bottles , jars and drinking glasses.
Iridescence is also found in plants, animals and many other items. The range of colours of natural iridescent objects can be narrow, for example shifting between two or three colours as the viewing angle changes, [5] [6] An iridescent biofilm on the surface of a fish tank diffracts the reflected light, displaying the entire spectrum of colours ...
Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide (Al 2 O 3) typically containing traces of iron, titanium, vanadium, and chromium. [3] [4] It is a rock-forming mineral.It is a naturally transparent material, but can have different colors depending on the presence of transition metal impurities in its crystalline structure. [7]