Either the taking up of matter in bulk by other matter, as in the dissolving of a gas by a liquid; or the taking up of energy from radiation by the medium through which the radiation is passing. In the first case, an absorption coefficient is defined as the amount of gas dissolved at standard conditions by a unit volume of the solvent. Absorption in this sense is a volume effect: The absorbed substance permeates the whole of the absorber. In absorption of the second type, attenuation is produced which in many cases follows Lambert's law and adds to the effects of scattering if the latter is present.