Written by the Fiveable Content Team โข Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 examโขWritten by the Fiveable Content Team โข Last updated September 2025
Definition
Absorption of light refers to the process where matter (like a chemical compound) takes in photons from light and converts their energy into other forms, often heat.
A photon is a particle representing a quantum of light or other electromagnetic radiation. It carries energy proportional to the radiation frequency but has zero rest mass.
This is an analytical method used to measure how much a chemical substance absorbs light by measuring the intensity of light as a beam of light passes through sample solution.