Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)

Absorption is when something takes in energy from something else. When it comes to electromagnetic radiation, absorption is when something absorbs or takes in the energy of light, or other forms of radiation, like radio waves or even x-rays. Whenever you see an object or material that looks a certain color, it is because the object or material is absorbing certain parts of the light that is reflecting off of it and reflecting (or sending back out) other parts of the light. For example, a red shirt looks red because it is absorbing all the other colors of the light and reflecting the red part back. So the more of a certain color an object absorbs, the less of that color it reflects, and the less of that color you will see.