Why is glass transparent? - Mark Miodownik 

I remember asking this to a teacher many years ago but they couldn't answer, glad I finally got an answer.

Best thing i took from this video: Glass protects you from UV light. UPDATE: Normal glass only protects you from some of the UV light.

"Featureless and invisible" man i never knew me and glass had so much in common

It feels all the more incredible how certain plastics can be transparent, flexible, durable and lightweight at the same time!

Happiness is like a glass. It's there, but you won't know until it's broken.

What invention lets you see straight through a wall? THE WINDOW

TED-ED is the only channel through which I get education , being a student , I get confused to study books or help others under the time period. Then, I get upset when people laugh at me for being unknowingly uneducated for surrounding, everyday items I use. Because, I don’t know their significance. Often feeling useless and non-featured, same as mirror, makes me emotional sometimes but I am overcoming with it, with this channel, with a confidence of ‘try to be at pinnacle’. Thank for all of it.

I’ve often wondered how the ingredients for glass becomes invisible , at 76 I finally get it explained thank you

Wow, the question is not _"Why is glass transparent?"_ more than _"Why is not everything else transparent?"_ Neat, though. #TedEd #science #glass

I've got a question. If you would shine an insane amount of light on a solid object, that isn't normally transparent, could you transfer enough energy to all of the electrons so they would all reach their maximum potential energy level, so they would not be able to absorb additional energy and the remaining energy would shine through the object making it transparent?

I hope you people realize how much your videos are appreciated. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for doing what you do. I will be making a donation to help advance your cause.

3:50 "... featureless and invisible, we forget its even there" My life story. I feel you glass 😭

if glass protects from uv light, why are uv light bulbs made of glass?

that last sentence really made me think.

The Europeans had... wine, and developed glass as an inert means of storage - and it looked pretty. This led to windows, lenses, corrected vision, telescopes and more. The Chinese, on the other hand, were happy with their tea, in shellac cups, and the use of paper for lanterns and windows, so the glass revolution only happened later.

All information on the internet should be as useful as this is!!!😃

Thumbs up if you're watching this in 2337 through a transparent steel screen.

I remember asking my science teacher about this. He never told me. "Something to do with the molecules."

"sometimes we even forget that its really there" me: looking at my fingerprint covered window

I love this channel. For real, it's one of the few things that make believe that internet can be used for good. Congratulations to everyone involve in developing theses videos, you are changing the world, even if not everyone notice. 😀

🍕

Optical illusion at 2:30 Stare at the red ball in the middle at it will appear as though the lines on the far electron shell has disappeared

I appreciate these videos that explain something without taking 20 to 30 minutes to get to the point.

Very simple and elegantly answered unlike how other youtube channels tend to complicate this.

And yet there is not one single person in the world that knows why the photons only interact with the electrons at "the right" energy levels. That is, we know this is why glass is transparent, but we don't know the fundamental reason why.

the comment section happens to be equally, or maybe even more informative than the video itself, love it!

That music at the end is always so oddly satisfying.. 😍

Amazing vid. it helped me understand refraction more. However, I still have one question and would be delighted if answered: if light doesn't have enough energy to make electrons jump, why don't the electrons just take all the light energy making it disappear or does it have to do with how far the electrons are?

Pretty sure people get suntan through glass! Ask the drivers!

I love how they replaced the nucleus with football stadium

The science behind glass is really fascinating…I believe I first learned from Minecraft that sand is used to form glass. It was interesting to learn about its makeup on a atomic level…energy levels and photons to explain why light is able to pass through glass and not other objects.

This channel is a gift to everyone!

0:07 Is that you I Hate Everything?!

Glass: What is my purpose? Me: Your purpose is to be featureless and invisible, with people forgetting your there.

i legit learned something i have been wondering for a while tedx is one of the few channels that actually teach you stuff, with out it going in one ear and out the other

have been looking for this answer for more than 20 years. Now I can die in peace. Thank you TED-Ed. I really appreciate it .

after this video I looked at my window. wow.

Beautifully animated, and made so easy to understand! Thanks!

This was the best explanation of the phenomenon I have ever seen. Thank you.

They should rebrand from “lessons worth sharing” to “questions you didn’t know you had until TED-Ed answered them”

all these years i have thought that you could get a tan while exposed to the sun through a glass, for example a car's windshield or a glass window etc

I wish educational videos would stop showing electrons as jumping between electron shells. I'm sure the creators know that they can't exist between the shells, as quantization is the reason for photons not being absorbed by all electrons. So why is it that we keep pretending that electrons move like every-day macro objects? I don't think this makes it any easier to learn. Firstly, because of this strategy we are specifically lying about the nature of these things from the start, putting up barriers to understanding reality in the future. Secondly, the reason for transparency is easier to understand if you understand that electrons only exist in these shells. And lastly, this explains the reason for molecular spectrum and allows you to properly research why different frequencies of light are or are not absorbed. Oversimplification is worse than explaining the picture in too much detail; in taking this approach we are cutting ourselves off from how we discovered these properties of nature. Besides, quantization is most confusing to those who have accepted these more 'simple' models. It's not hard to accept for those who had no model of physics, to begin with.

The poetry in these narrations are just on another level

When people say fire is the most important invention ever. I often think of glass (something that can separate things while letting light goes thru) and magnet.

That was a nice one! I always thought it was about the wave lengths that it absorbs.

why every glass can't be used for UV protection?

Man, this is so astonishing. Creativity and thinking in numerous possible ways is the problem-solving hack way back from history! Totally loved the speech.

This absolutely blew my mind :O Thanks so much for the absolutely insane videos!

uh... that's not exactly why most materials are opaque. from what you claim, opaque materials should block very specific frequencies, and let most light go through. Instead opaque materials absorb some light and reflect some. What's happening is that 1) a photon doesn't need to have *exactly* the right amount of energy, even for a free atom/molecule, it has some narrow band of frequencies that do get absorbed. but once you consider a solid, there are alot of atom, affecting each other, shifting the bands randomly, and making them broader. additionally, an atom would absorb light and then re-emit it, perhaps emit it in different frequencies, but still, it can't just keep the energy to itself. but when you bunch up atoms together, they could absorb the photon, and instead of giving it back as new light, just share it with other atoms. Then the atoms shake and heat up, absorbing the photon completely. Last thing to remember is that nothing is exact, and nothing is binary. you can absorb 37% of light at a curtain frequency, reflect 53% and let 10% through. Besides that, even though the atom is mostly empty, the visible light has a much bigger wavelength, so this empty space is just not enough to pass through.

Lots of things are made of glass that we don't even think about. Screens, cups, mugs, computer cases, eyeglasses, even jewelry sometimes... It really is one of the most useful materials we have. Good video!

ted-ed always gives the clarity😇

This explanation was crystal clear to me.

This video is incorrect. It proposes the hypothesis that photons are too small or carry insufficient energy to excite the molecules (or more accurately the electron ball/field that surround atoms), thus slipping through glass unperturbed. It is well known that light is slowed down by 40% when moving through glass. It is also well known that light is refracted within the medium. Thus, there is a tremendous amount of interaction or interference between the light photon and the molecules and/or their electrons in the glass. There are a number of hypothesis as to what is occurring, but there is as yet no definitive answer to the question. I would recommend, for those who wish a deeper study, and to become more confused, looking at several Sixty Symbols video's covering the subject. Of particular interest, 'Why is glass transparent?' with Professor Phil Moriarty (which somewhat supports this Ted video), and two subsequent videos 'Why is light slower in glass' with Professor Marifield and an additional video by Moriarty where he concedes his first video is too simplistic. I would like to say that Ted generally produce very informative work, and they are a great boon to our society. But they are not infallible. It might have been more inspiring to create a video: 'Why does light go through glass? We're not sure!', and then run down a number of hypothesis on the subject.

Great job. This is an excellent explanation about the transparency of glass. It would be great if Ted-Ed did a video explaining why metals reflect light.

I never thought this was going to be such an elaborate answer

its been years , I searched this question everywhere books, Asked professors , nothing explains more beautiful than this

Glass is the real MVP

Wow I finally understand orbitals and fermi energy levels. Thanks. :)

very well explained. i have found no other explanation at this level of excellence

This was the clearest explanation.

Genialmente didáctico. Gracias por la clase sobre transparencia en cristal y en vidrio. Un breve comentario sobre la fibra óptica?😐☺

0:15 everything

Excellent explanation for even the average person to understand. Thanks

2:02 whoever did that animation of the Adam is a really good animator.

yay i learned something

ah so that’s why most walls can let wifi and radio through, the photon energy isn’t enough to excite the atoms.

How fantastic it could be to confirmed what i predicted about the glasses subatomic structure regarding transparency.

Glass is one of my favourite solid material.

The video contains an error. Electrons can't be between two energy levels as shown, they pass from one level to another without ever staying in between the levels. It makes no sense because it is quantum physics .

3:37 when you break the 4th window

clear explanation with smooth attractive animation and not to mention about his soothing voice 🤠makes this amazing channel

That last sentence is my life story...

um electrons don't really orbit around the nucleus. Electrons have a certain probability that they will have their strongest point in a certain location. This matters because an orbit is a point that smoothly moves around something, electrons just teleport.

Amazing video! Perfectly explains why light cannot go through walls.

I always wondered why my transition glasses would not darken inside, even though I was sitting in sunshine. Amazing video, like always!

0:44 Nuh-uh, you find quartz in the Nether, not in sand, everyone knows that!

*OMG! THE DEPICTION AT THE END! ALL OF OUR SCREENS THAT WE'RE WATCHING THIS ON ARE ALSO GLASS!!! I ESPECIALLY LOVE TED-ED ENDINGS BECAUSE THEY ARE ALWAYS SO CLEVER!!!*

Omg the fact I've been searching around this question a couple of months ago and finally earned a proper answer. Thank you!!❤

I have been wondering this on and off for many years. Thank you so much.

RU-vid: Do you want to know why is glass transparent? 3 million people : Y E S

Curious People : "Why is glass transparent?" Me who watches Jerry: "Glass is glass and glass is transparent."

I love the way this channel explains..I simplyyyy love it❤❤❤

I had heard the liquid state information before (which I kinda understood) but this piece had even more details and was very clear

my friend : " a glass is simple " me :" *IT'S COMPLICATE*

Their intro is made in a way that they'd want us to believe the fact that they want us to feel hypnotised even though they know we don't feel that way

I started to love this channel

It would be beneficial to add the natural form of glass. When lightening hits sand. As its translucent and solid due to the type of sand

Didn't know UV doesn't pass thur glass. Wow, good to know.

For some reason I thought it said why is milk transparent and i was like wtf

A simple answer, why have I not heard this before. Thanks.

I watched this entire video through the glass screen of my labtop.

what about diamond and water? those are transparent too but not made from silicon. can someone explain to me?

That's awesome! With that being said, my question is how do mirrors play a part in this subject. Its glass but its not transparent. Is there a different element or is the glass created differently?

Transparent to visible light, but not to higher energy photons like UV. The visible (for humans - birds can see more of the UV) part of the EM spectrum is very small, but to us it is very important.

This channel teaches me better then school does.

I love you glass!

I wish more humans were like glass… ´transparent’

At the end of Ted videos I normally have a vague understanding of the subject but I can't wrap my tiny brain around this one

Another interesting question is why sound waves can penetrate most of the materials while light waves cannot. And why some electronic waves can penetrate materials while light waves cannot.

2:38 seeing that depiction of an atom makes me cringe