In article , Martin H. Eastburn
says...

First of all let us not think that everything that reflects has 100% of the
color and image that came into it to be reflected.
You seem to think this way.

All elements have distinctive burn colors and absorbs and reflects based
on the atomic model.

Atomic absorption and emission (from flame spectra, like you are
discussing now) are very different than the optical effects from
metals reflecting incident light. Flame spectroscopy like that
can be done on non-metals.

I don't think Al reflects and absorbs evenly across the spectrum - that would be
really ODD.

Actually it pretty much does. If you were to look at a reflection
spectrum from a metal like aluminum, where the fermi level is such that
there are plenty of electrons to respond to the incident wave, you
find that there's a pretty flat response in the visible. It does
fall off in the UV and the IR.

Jim


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