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When light is created, light will spread out in all directions from the light source. You can see this when you look into a light source such as a light bulb. Light also spreads out from light sources in space, like the sun and other stars. Light does not need any matter to travel, because there is no matter in space, and light still reaches us. This is called radiation, it happens when a energy like light travels in all direction from a source. Light from the sun can travel to our planet, even though there is millions of kilometres of space between earth and the sun. However, the light can still reach us because it is radiation. What happens when light strikes an object?
Light travels in all directions from a light source, like from our sun. This type of energy movement does not need matter to travel, it is called radiation.
When light strikes a surface of an object, three things can happen to light. First off all, light can just pass through the object. Light can also be absorbed by the object, like a black sweater. When light is absorbed by an object, then the light can be changed into a different form of energy, in this case heat. This is why when you are wearing a black sweater on a sunny day, you will feel hot, because your clothing is absorbing the light. Finally, light can bounce off an object. In many objects, light is absorbed and reflected off. In other materials, like glass, light just passes right through. If you look through an object and you can see very clearly through the object, the object is said to be transparent. If you look through the object and see the other side, but not very clearly, the object is said to be translucent. The surface of a translucent object is often rough, and they scatter the light. Finally, if no light passes through an object, the object is said to be opaque.
  
When light strikes an object, three things can happen to it. The light can be either absorbed by the object, pass through, or bounce off the object.
Humans have made a few models about light for us to understand more about light and how it behaves. For instance, scientists have made up the ray model of light to help us understand how light travels. The Ray model of light states that light actually travels in straight lines called rays. Click here to learn more about the ray model of light!
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