system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Colour perception is typical described as a material absorbing light wavelengths and reflecting others, with those reflected wavelengths being interpreted as colour. EII5 how are light waves absorbed by a material? Is there a limit to absorption?
gpt
Materials absorb light by quantum interaction between the photons (light) and the electrons in the material. If the wavelength of light matches up to an electron properly, the electron can absorb the photon and jump up to a higher energy level. Materials have many electrons in many different configurations with many different energy levels so they can absorb a wide range of possible wavelengths. 

It's not just the interaction of the electron with it's atom, it's also the electron bonds between atoms...that's why different chemical compounds can have different colours even if they involve the same atoms.

There's a limit to light absorption in the sense that the energy has to go somewhere, and it's typically going to show up as heat in the material. Eventually you get hot enough to cause the molecules to break down or change state (solid to liquid to gas to plasma)...either will change the electron configuration and energy and the absorption will change.