ELI5- If light is both a wave and a particle, why isn’t there visible buildup of those particles from the sun and whatnot?

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ELI5- If light is both a wave and a particle, why isn’t there visible buildup of those particles from the sun and whatnot?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

It is hard to say what light really is because nobody knows. All we got are models describing what light can do/be.

Its best to think about light moving through a vacuum as an electromagnetic wave. A disturbance in the em field.

A photon is an event. Its a way to describe light as it interacts with something.

Non of these are what light is, but ways to describe, model it. Whether a model is actually reality is hard to say.

For example, it used to be an open question whether atoms did actually exist or was the atom model just a model, a useful description. Is the atom model the description of what materials are or a way to look at what materials are? Physics is primarily about the former. Is the electric field a vector field? No, its a mathematical tool that can be used to model the electric field. Models are representations not necessarily nature itself.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It is hard to say what light really is because nobody knows. All we got are models describing what light can do/be.

Its best to think about light moving through a vacuum as an electromagnetic wave. A disturbance in the em field.

A photon is an event. Its a way to describe light as it interacts with something.

Non of these are what light is, but ways to describe, model it. Whether a model is actually reality is hard to say.

For example, it used to be an open question whether atoms did actually exist or was the atom model just a model, a useful description. Is the atom model the description of what materials are or a way to look at what materials are? Physics is primarily about the former. Is the electric field a vector field? No, its a mathematical tool that can be used to model the electric field. Models are representations not necessarily nature itself.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Forget the wave particle duality for a moment, because it doesn’t do an awful lot to help this discussion.

Light is photons. Small points particles that move super fast.

When a photon hits an atom, the atom will absorb it. You can think of the photon likes it’s a packet of energy. It’s not quite as lumpy as regular particles.

It’s like heat in chemistry. Heat is a bit like atoms in a way. We used to think there was some sort of heat atom that was carrying the heat from place to place, but it’s not quite like that. Chemical systems can magic heat out of existence or into existence.

The same is so for photons. Particles spit them out or absorb them all the time. The particle gains energy when it eats a photon and loses energy when it creates a photon.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Forget the wave particle duality for a moment, because it doesn’t do an awful lot to help this discussion.

Light is photons. Small points particles that move super fast.

When a photon hits an atom, the atom will absorb it. You can think of the photon likes it’s a packet of energy. It’s not quite as lumpy as regular particles.

It’s like heat in chemistry. Heat is a bit like atoms in a way. We used to think there was some sort of heat atom that was carrying the heat from place to place, but it’s not quite like that. Chemical systems can magic heat out of existence or into existence.

The same is so for photons. Particles spit them out or absorb them all the time. The particle gains energy when it eats a photon and loses energy when it creates a photon.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Light isn’t a wave and a particle, it’s something that has some properties of both. Photons are their own thing, basically.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Light isn’t a wave and a particle, it’s something that has some properties of both. Photons are their own thing, basically.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Plants, they grow by absorbing sunlight and carbon dioxide. The air. It warms up in sunlight. Why/how? Its absorbing the photons the sun gives off. You make vitamin D by absorbing sunlight. Solar panels work by their atoms taking in excess energy from photons.

Mater absorbs and releases energy. Light is energy. There are no piles of photons laying about because plants, animals, the air, the dirt, EVERYTHING absorbs it and makes use of it in some way. Even if that use is simply converting the light into heat.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Plants, they grow by absorbing sunlight and carbon dioxide. The air. It warms up in sunlight. Why/how? Its absorbing the photons the sun gives off. You make vitamin D by absorbing sunlight. Solar panels work by their atoms taking in excess energy from photons.

Mater absorbs and releases energy. Light is energy. There are no piles of photons laying about because plants, animals, the air, the dirt, EVERYTHING absorbs it and makes use of it in some way. Even if that use is simply converting the light into heat.

Anonymous 0 Comments

What would happen if you beam a laser into a 1 way mirror trap?

You can’t really observe what is inside the trap but I’d expect the materials of the trap to get hot. This heat is caused by a conversion of the light into energy, thus there is something building up when you shine a light. The scope of that buildup is on a scale we truly don’t yet understand.

Anonymous 0 Comments

What would happen if you beam a laser into a 1 way mirror trap?

You can’t really observe what is inside the trap but I’d expect the materials of the trap to get hot. This heat is caused by a conversion of the light into energy, thus there is something building up when you shine a light. The scope of that buildup is on a scale we truly don’t yet understand.