6533b835fe1ef96bd129f14e

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Translucent medium

subject

description

8 pages; article in McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Encyclopedia; International audience; A medium allowing light to pass through partially or diffusely. An object cannot be seen clearly through translucent matter. In the most accepted meaning, translucency is used to describe a medium transmitting most of the light but scattering it more or less so that objects seen through it are blurry with soft contours and without details. The closer the object is to the medium the sharper its image through it. There are many examples of such media among natural or manufactured artifacts, including wax paper, milky water, colloidal and hydrogel materials, aerogels, smoke, fog, clouds, optical ceramics, frosted glass, semitransparent glass, ground glass, milk or opal glass, glassine paper, and tracing paper.