Been studying science in college for about 2 years and this simple question has me questioning my own IQ. I understand how light travels through different mediums but photons are particles right? Actually physical particles that can travel through solid blocks of glass?
I dont know if Im just stupid or my teacher doesnt care, this question could keep me up at night.
In: Physics
Solids (and in fact all materials) are a collection of atoms.
Atoms are a tiny nucleus, surrouneded by some electrons.
Electrons can absorb photons, but they do so by following quite varied and specific rules, and when they absrob them, they might release it again, perhaps back in the same direction, or some random direction, or in chunks, etc.
So instead of thinking of a material as all-the-way ‘solid’, think of it as more like a mostly empty gauntlet or obstacle course, with gaps and bars and mirrors etc etc. But remember that there are perhaps trillions of these little obstacles in the way, arranged in all directions in the 3D space the material occupies.
Depeding on the type of light, and the shape of this obstacle course, some photons will pass through, some will be reflected, some will scatter in various directions, and so on.
Now, this ‘obstacle course’ is basically me handwaving a whole lot of quantum mechanics. The obstacles are things like electron energy levels and whether electrons are free or not, etc.
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