Wow... That's crazy. That totally blows my mind.
A popular question I get
is "Do I know what transparent,
translucent, or even reflective things are? Do I understand
how they work and what they do?" We're going to break it down
into 3 parts. I'm going to tell you what I know about each one of
these things and what might have those properties and then Ben
is going to name off a bunch of things as well. And we'll see what I know
about the things that he names and hey, maybe I'll learn something too.
[music plays] So what I know about
transparency is that light can pass through it.
You can see through it. People talk about, you know, my presidency is
going to be very transparent. That means you'll be able to see right
through it and know exactly what's going on. I don't really know
what it means to be able to see right through something. In other words,
when you look at something, do you see the window
and the thing or do you not see the window. Right. So if you're looking
out of a car window and another car, do you see the car window
as well as the other car or just the other car. See that's the
kind of thing I don't know. I think I can only think of a couple things
that are really transparent light a window or a piece of glass.
Right? But a mirror wouldn't be transparent
because that's... you're not seeing through that.
Like a glass you that you might drink out of is transparent.
You can see right through that. Saran Wrap, like plastic wrap,
you know that kind of stuff that you wrap food with.
I would think that you could see through that. You know, a beer bottle.
A bottle of whiskey... a bottle of scotch. Like, through
a glass shelf in the refrigerator. I imagine you'd be able to see right through
that. And water too. You could look through water. If it's clean water
and see right to the bottom. I suppose there are some plastics that are
transparent too. Like something that food might come in.
You might be able to look right through. I would imagine glass beads
that people wear for jewelry and stuff. You could look through those.
BEN: So where did you learn about a lot of these things?
TOMMY: I think I learned a lot of this in school. Like, in science class and stuff.
But from everyday life too. From people
being in cars and, "Oh, would you look at what that person is doing in that other car."
For example, the water, how many times have I been to the beach
and people said, "Look, it's beautiful. You can see right to the bottom."
You know, this clear blue water. BEN: Does it make sense to you?
Can you understand when one thing
can be transparent that is a solid
while another thing that might be made of the same
material is not transparent? TOMMY: No.
That totally blows my mind. That really does.
And I don't even quite think I understand what it would be like
to look through something and see something else.
It's very strange. BEN: So I have a list of things here that are
transparent that you might not know are transparent, some of which you've already said.
TOMMY: Okay. BEN: So, good job.
TOMMY: Thank you. BEN: Something that's also transparent - glass in picture frame.
TOMMY: Oh, yeah, of course. BEN: It holds
the picture in. TOMMY: Of course, yep, and you don't get the picture all dirty.
BEN: Right. A lot of jewel cases are clear
plastic and you can see right through so you can see the album artwork.
TOMMY: But I thought the album artwork was on the insert.
BEN: The insert slides through the front of the jewel case
and the jewel case is clear. TOMMY: Oh, okay.
Gotcha. BEN: And finally... something else that's glass...
a light bulb. And so you can actually see the
filaments inside. TOMMY: Wow. That's cool.
That's very cool. Of course, I forgot about that.
[music plays] Translucent. I'm not quite sure
I understand how this works, but... from what I know about
translucency is this - you can sort of see through it
but you can't really make out too much what's on the other side.
I think I understand, but I don't get it.
I don't quite know what that might look like or feel like or what that experience
will be like. I know it makes sense because it's in the dictionary and that,
but that's all. I don't quite get it. BEN: What if you were to put
a speaker in front you, and you played the speaker
without anything between you and the speaker. That might
have the property of --- TOMMY: ...of transparency.
BEN: ... of being transparent. Let's say you have a speaker in front of you and you put
a blanket in between you and the speaker. TOMMY: Okay.
BEN: Now it's a little more muffled. It's not as clear.
TOMMY: Yep. BEN: You can still make out that there's sound. You can hear the beat
but you might not hear the details of the recording.
TOMMY: Right, I might not hear some of the high-end to it, for example.
That would be the stuff that would go away first. BEN: So therefore that might be
more translucent than transparent. TOMMY: Now, as far as things that are
translucent I really only think I know one.
And that would be a shower door. And again, that's how it was explained
to me in school. And I would imagine you would want translucent shower door
so nobody could sort of walk in on you while you're in the bathroom.
You spend all that money to get doors on your shower, you don't
want perfectly transparent ones, do you? BEN: Depends who's in it.
TOMMY: Oh, that's true too. BEN: What else do you know that's
translucent? TOMMY: Are limousine windows sort of translucent?
Or are they completely where you
can't see through them? BEN: So maybe a tinted window.
TOMMY: Tinted! That's the word they call it. Yep. Isn't some milk
translucent, right? You don't want to let certain
rays of light into it. Is that right? BEN: Milk?
TOMMY: Yeah, some milk bottles? BEN: Oh, milk bottles -
sure. Some are - absolutely. TOMMY: Boy, this one -
I really feel like I don't think I know. Honestly.
I mean, I touch glass and I just assume you can look through it.
BEN: Here are some things that can be translucent. TOMMY: Okay.
BEN: Sunglasses. TOMMY: Sunglasses!
BEN: Those are like tinted windows. TOMMY: Can you look into sunglasses and look into
somebody's eyes, or no? BEN: Some sunglasses, yes.
Something else that's translucent - smoke.
TOMMY: Smoke. That's interesting.
That never even entered my mind. That's fascinating.
BEN: Fog. TOMMY: Of course. See...
I'm not thinking the things in the elements. Right. I'm just thinking
of objects. BEN: Light bulbs. If a lightbulb
isn't transparent, then most likely it's translucent. TOMMY: Got it.
That makes sense. BEN: Right. It's like frosted glass.
It's kinds of puts - it has a bit of diffusion on the glass.
So it's a softer light. TOMMY: Yep. Okay.
BEN: As opposed to harsher, brighter light. Tissue paper.
TOMMY: What? BEN: Light can pass through.
TOMMY: Wow wee. Oh, this is blowing my mind. BEN: So I can put
a flashlight against it and light will - a little bit of light
will pass through it, but you won't be able to see the detail of the flashlight through it.
TOMMY: That's crazy. Wow.
[music plays] TOMMY: So as far as I know, when something is
reflective, I think that means you can see yourself
in it. Like a swimming pool, for example.
You can see your reflection come off of the water. You look into
a mirror you can see your reflection come back. BEN: It also
means that it reflects light. TOMMY: Yes.
Right. Of course. BEN: Not just your own image.
Like a piece of white paper with a light shining against it
will reflect that light but I can't see myself in it.
TOMMY: Wooh. Oh, boy.
Okay. BEN: What do you know that is reflective?
TOMMY: I think aluminum foil can be reflective, can't it?
Like the light will bounce off and I don't think you'd necessarily see
yourself through it, but um - you could use it to bounce the
light towards you. Like, even at a store window can be reflective.
If the light is hitting it right I suppose you could see yourself in a store window,
couldn't you? BEN: Yes, that's right. TOMMY: Yeah, I know that
because one of my sisters used to look at herself in windows all the time. BEN: They all did.
[Tommy laughs]
BEN: Okay, so here are handful of things that you may have not know are reflective.
TOMMY: Alright, sir. BEN: A door knob.
TOMMY: A door knob? BEN: A door know could be shining. Maybe made out of a metal.
TOMMY: Yeah, or brass or something like that. Yep. Okay.
BEN: Right. Bubbles are reflective.
TOMMY: Oh, see, I would have thought a bubble would have been more translucent than reflective.
BEN: It is, but it's also reflective. Light's going to hit it. You'll see the
reflection of the light in the bubble. TOMMY: But light could also go through the bubble
and then you could sort of get a weird image through the bubble.
BEN: Correct. TOMMY: Wooh. Oh, boy.
BEN: A tin can TOMMY: A tine can?
BEN: Well, you said aluminum foil before. TOMMY: Yep, so that makes sense, sure.
BEN: Coins. TOMMY: Really? BEN: A spoon.
TOMMY: A spoon. Well, yeah, that surface. The spoon part.
That makes sense. BEN: A lot of toasters are reflective.
TOMMY: Really?
BEN: A screen on a phone, or a computer, or a TV
could be reflective. TOMMY: See, I don't think about that
because I figured - I just think of the screen as something that you watch.
So it never even occurred to me that would be reflective.
That's cool. BEN: The bottom of a CD or DVD
is reflective. TOMMY: The bottom of the disc itself. BEN: Right.
I can see myself in the DVD.
TOMMY: Really? BEN: Or a CD. TOMMY: Well, that's very cool.
BEN: A faucet. TOMMY: These things are fascinating. This is incredible.
So you guys see this all the time. All around
you - just every where you go. BEN: All day. I'm see it right now.
TOMMY: Haha. That's so weird. [music plays]
Now, opaque, I think I understand. Opaque is that
light will not pass through it, therefore one cannot see through it.
I mean, it's that simple. No light,
no see. Like a wall. Like a plaster
wall, you can't see through that. You can't see through the
carpeting on the floor. You can't see through cement.
Right, the street. You can't look down at street and see
what's going on underneath. The roof of a house.
You can't see through a piece of fruit, vegetable, piece of meat.
Some packaging you can't see through.
Like styrofoam. You can't see through that. There are tons of things.
Like I really do. I feel like I get opaque.
Because it's my world. BEN: Here are some things that you may or may not
know are also opaque. TOMMY: Okay.
BEN: Brick. Steel. TOMMY: Yep. Sure.
BEN: A coffee mug. TOMMY: Now, wait a minute.
That seems weird to me. A coffee mug is opaque.
BEN: Ceramic coffee mug, sure. Like the Blind Film Critic coffee mug.
TOMMY: That is very strange. BEN: That's now available on Teespring.com.
TOMMY: Hi-oh!
[music plays]
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