system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How are black surfaces able to be glossy?

Black is said to absorb all colors of light, so why can a black surface be reflective, such as a black painted car.
gpt
Light can bounce off of surfaces like a ball. When it hits the surface in an angle from the left, it bounces with the same angle to the right. If all light bounces like this, you can see a reflection. This is how mirrors bounce light.

Light can also scatter all around to all directions. A very white surface may bounce almost all the light but you won't see a reflection because the light bounces to all directions and the "reflection" becomes blurry.


Now, a perfectly black material wouldn't bounce any light at all but it it impossible to make a perfectly black surface. Surfaces can be very dark but not black. If the black sufrace bounces the small amount of light like a mirror, it looks shiny.