Are photons physical particles? As in could I grab one out of the air and hold it?
In: Physics
Photons are… weird. The short answers to your questions are: yes, they’re physical particles; no, you couldn’t grab one out of the air or hold it.
Photons have no *inertial mass*, so they’re not made out of “stuff” in the sense we traditionally think of it. They’re really packets of energy. But energy is basically the same thing as mass for… reasons… so they still react to other matter in ways that mass does. Which is why they can be reflected (mirrors) or refracted (look at a straw in a glass of water).
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