Answer:
You have read that EM waves can interact with a material medium in
the same ways that mechanical waves do. Three forms of interaction
play an especially important role in how people see light. One form is
reflection. Most things are visible because they reflect light. The two
other forms of interaction are transmission and absorption.
Transmission is the passage of an EM wave
through a medium. If the light reflected from objects did not pass
through the air, windows, or most of the eye, we could not see the
objects. Absorption is the disappearance of an
EM wave into the medium. Absorption affects how things look, because
it limits the light available to be reflected or transmitted.