Talk:Attenuation coefficient

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Mistake for attenuation vs extinction vs absorption

I think maybe there is a mistake. Extinction coeff $\kappa$ should be imaginary part of complex index of refraction ${\tilde {n}}=n+i\kappa$ , and also absorption coeff $\alpha$ and extinction coeff are related by

\alpha (\omega )=\left[{\frac {2\omega }{c}}\right]\kappa

Or? Am I wrong? Like it's important not to mix up these three but the article isn't clear and may be wrong about this.... --Blue.painting (talk) 22:52, 14 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguating the opening sentence/ definition.

"...how easily a volume of material can be penetrated by a beam of light, sound, particles, or other energy or matter."

I think it might be more correct to replace 'energy' with 'electromagnetic radiation,' because I think we're only talking about radiant energy in that context (when contrasted with 'matter'). It might be better to rephrase it entirely to:

"...how easily a volume of material can be penetrated by electromagnetic radiation or subatomic particles."

Thoughts? 69.4.157.201 (talk) 15:48, 10 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

IUPAC

The cited refs to IUPAC do not align with the content:

"attenuation coefficient: Analogous to absorption coefficient but taking into account also the effects due to scattering and luminescence It was formerly called extinction coefficient.
"absorption coefficient: Linear decadic (a,K) and Napierian absorption coefficients (α) are equal to the corresponding absorbances divided by the optical path length through the sample."

So the article should be called "absorption coefficient" Johnjbarton (talk) 00:46, 4 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced additions.

@PAR you added two sections of content but did not provide any sources. Please add references for these additions. Johnjbarton (talk) 15:21, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]