ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Molar absorptivity

Let's imagine you have a glass of lemonade. Sometimes, when you hold the glass up to the sunlight, you see that the lemonade looks a bit darker. That is because light is passing through the lemonade and some of it gets absorbed or taken in by the lemonade.

Now, scientists are really curious about how much light gets absorbed by different substances. So they came up with a special number called molar absorptivity to measure this. The molar absorptivity tells us how much light a substance can absorb when it is in a solution.

Imagine you have a bunch of tiny, invisible molecules in the lemonade. These molecules can be lemon juice, sugar, or anything else that makes up the lemonade. When light passes through the lemonade, some of these molecules can snatch up or absorb the light. The molar absorptivity tells us how good these molecules are at snatching up the light.

Just like some people are better at catching balls than others, some molecules are better at absorbing light. The molar absorptivity tells us how good these molecules are at catching or absorbing light.

Scientists measure the molar absorptivity by using a special machine called a spectrophotometer. This machine sends a beam of light through a solution and then measures how much of the light gets absorbed. The molar absorptivity is the ratio of the absorbed light to the concentration of molecules in the solution.

So, if the molar absorptivity is high, it means that a lot of light is getting absorbed by the molecules, and the solution will appear darker. If the molar absorptivity is low, it means that there is not much light getting absorbed, and the solution will appear lighter.

By knowing the molar absorptivity, scientists can then figure out how much of a certain substance is present in a solution. They can do this by measuring how much light gets absorbed and comparing it to a standard or reference solution of known concentration.

So, the molar absorptivity helps scientists understand how good different substances are at absorbing light, and it helps them measure the concentration of substances in a solution.