system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What does it mean when objects absorb light? What happens to the light and to the objects?
gpt
Every object is made up of atoms and molecules. Those atoms and molecules have different electronic structures, meaning the electrons inside them sit at different energy levels, different amounts of energy apart. Electrons can absorb photons (light) and move up to a higher energy level with the energy of the photon.

So when an abject absorbs light, a photon is basically giving it's energy to one of the electrons inside the object, allowing it to move to a higher energy level and destroying that photon.

Objects can only absorb light that corresponds to an exact transition from one energy level to another. Because different materials have different levels, this is why different objects absorb different colours of light and appear to have different colours.