As I was going to sleep, I see two different light beams going through my window, iluminating two different spots of my bedroom but yet both going through my window at the same time constantly, how does that work? Are they in the same place at the same time? Or are they so fast that I can’t notice they are actually taking turns to come in?
In: Physics
A photon is not a particle, it is a bundle of energy. We talk about photons as particles because they have an area within which the energy is found. However, there is nothing physical about the area or the energy. So two photons can overlap and be in the same place at the same time.
Light is matter, but also light is not matter. That’s not just ELI5, [it’s physics](https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/wave-particle_duality.htm#:~:text=In%20physics%20and%20chemistry%2C%20wave,both%20waves%20and%20of%20particles.&text=The%20idea%20of%20duality%20is,Christiaan%20Huygens%20and%20Isaac%20Newton).
(Please note: this explanation will trample all over wave particle duality, but… like… they’re 5.) There are two types of basic particles in the world: fermions and bosons. Fermions make up what you tend to think of as “stuff”, think of them like ping pong balls. You can’t have two ping pong balls exist in the same spot at the same time. Bosons, which include photons, which you can think of as ripples in water, can exist in the same spot at the same time. Congratulations! You now understand the Pauli Exclusion Principle! Another cool thing about bosons, is they are the universes way of applying forces on “stuff” (fermions). When two magnets pull or push one another, they are actually exchanging photons.
I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking, but I hope this helps. The two beams are two completely different streams of light (photons/”light particles” or electromagnetic waves) coming in at the same time. It’s like how there is always water coming out of the multiple holes in a showerhead. There are countless individual photons that make up each beam. They don’t need to take turns coming through one hole after another. In fact, unless you have a completely opaque curtain or set of blinds, some photons are still coming through it and flooding your room with light; a lot of it is just blocked out.
Light particles (photons) can be in the same place at the same time. That’s just the way they are. Therefore light beams can intersect without interacting with each other.
Unless they’re the exact same color then they will be different wavelengths, and different wavelengths of light can occupy the same space without mingling. Like how in a microwave you can have “microwaves” and visible light both there.
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