> Another question. Wouldn't transparent flesh still cause the light passing through/around the person to be distorted in some way?

Of course. Whenever light changes speed, as it does, by slowing down while passing through a less dense media into a more dense one -- i.e., like going from air to glass -- then some of that light is reflected (obviously this bending reflection causes a visual distortion).


> Light passing through transparent substances of differing densities (from air to water or glass) is bent. Is that why we can usually see those other transparent substances?

Er, no. The actual distortion occurs at the boundaries of the transparent object. Glass, or a glass of glycerine, reflects light at its external boundaries. A lack of rigid internal boundaries (like cells, crystals) within such objects like air or water or glass, as well as a molecular structure which doesn't absorb light in the visible spectrum, permits light photons to pass through these objects with relatively little obstruction. Since the light changes speed only at the boundaries, that's why edges are the most noticeable aspect of any transparent object.


> If it is, I would expect a transparent person would still be somewhat visible.
>
> Burger"No answer, more questions"King

In other words, for the Invisible Man to be transparent while in air by the usual rules of physics, he'd have to be no more complicated than a giant single-celled amoeba. He'd only become mostly "invisible" if he took this amoeba form and hid inside water. :-)