Scrit & Noseall:
The trick here is to know and understand that the percentage of light that is reflected at a boundary is dependant on the refractive indices on both sides of the boundary. The more similar the refractive indices are, the lower the percentage of light reflected at the boundary. So, if we can change the situation at the scratched surface so that the material on both sides of it have similar refractive indices, less light will be reflected by the scratched surface and more of that light will continue on into the counter top material where it will be absorbed. This will have the effect of making the scratches less noticable because it will make light behave more like it did before the counter top was scratched.
read on...
MOST scratches will be white in color because the rough surface of the scratch both reflects and refracts incident light. So, what you'll be seeing from the scratch are different frequencies of light coming from different surfaces on that rough scratch, and your eye sees the combined effect of all those different colors as the colour "white". That's why most scratches will be either white in color.
If this counter top has some sort of varnish or clear coating applied over it, then the fix would be to simply apply more varnish or whatever clear coating was applied before to fill in the scratch with more of that same.
However, if there is no such varnish or clear coat on it, then the next best option is to use any clear drying coating to fill the scratch, such as Tile Lab's "Gloss Sealer & Finish". This is an acrylic grout sealer that dries to a very hard and transparent colorless film.
By doing that, you cover the rough surface of the scratch with a material (clear acrylic plastic, in this case) that has a much higher refractive index than air. As a result, when incident light hits the surface of the acrylic plastic, some of it will be reflected, just as you have on the smooth surface of the counter top, and some of the incident light will enter the clear acrylic plastic. However, when the portion that enters the plastic encounters the surface of the scratch, much less of it will be reflected (because the refractive index of hard solid plastic would be more similar to that of hard plastic laminate) and much more of it will enter the plastic laminate where it will be absorbed.
That is, by making the refractive index on both sides of the scratch surface more similar, then you change the way light behaves at that scratches surface. Instead of the MAJORITY of the light being scattered due to the rough surface and you're eye seeing white light, much less of the light will be reflected back to your eye and more of it will go in a straighter line (less refraction cuz of more similar refractive indices) into the countertop material where it'll be absorbed.
So, if the surface of the counter top is high gloss, use a plastic repair material that dries to that kind of gloss surface. If it's matt, do the same.
By filling that scratch with a clear plastic solid, you change the way light behaves back to something more similar to the way it behaved prior to the counter top being scratched. And, the result will be that the scratches won't be as visible or noticable.
Hope this helps.
