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How can wax be normally darker than paper (absorb more light) but apart of light be lighter (let more light go)?

Apart of light

Paper is lying

foggy
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    This is not particularly clear. – Emilio Pisanty Jan 12 '15 at 21:30
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    apart of light be lighter What do you mean with that? What type of wax? – jinawee Jan 12 '15 at 21:31
  • I think the question is why paper imbued with wax can be more transmissive (or, similarly, why a greasy paper looks more translucent) – lionelbrits Jan 12 '15 at 21:39
  • I don't understand why is this a question of physics and not of chemistry. Bottom line, the question is why the white paper reflects white light (i.e all the spectrum), while the wax transmits. It's matter of the chemical formula of the wax and its properties. – Sofia Jan 12 '15 at 22:15
  • @Sofia - no, scatter is a matter of physics, not chemistry; and most likely that's what is behind this phenomenon. I agree the question should be clarified. – Floris Jan 13 '15 at 01:19
  • @Sofia: Bunsen's oil stain photometer. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fettfleck-Photometer the big problem is here, that the name of "foggy" is very appropriate – Georg Jan 14 '15 at 07:40

2 Answers2

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This is a question of scatter. Paper is white because the fibers (and fillers) create many refractive index mismatches. When you fill the space between the fibers with wax, you reduce the scatter at these interfaces (because the refractive index "in between" is raised from air to wax). Since paper is thin, the scatter dominates. When you just look at solid wax, it's quite dull for the same reason: there is not a lot of scatter happening inside.

This is why paper saturated with wax will be more translucent.

Floris
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It's hard to tell from the photo but I assume that it is normal wax placed on a piece of paper, not "wax paper". If the first image places the light behind the paper then this answer does not apply.

The paper is more reflective overall. However, the paper only reflects light randomly (termed a "diffuse" reflection). The wax has a smooth-ish surface that partially acts like a mirror (this is called a "specular" reflection). If the angle of one of the light sources and camera match up, light will bounce off this mirror and into the camera, making the wax look very bright. It may not be metal, but wax still is shiny (and it is used to make boats and cars gleam).

Kevin Kostlan
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