So we see cause photons hit our eyes. Cool. But what about after that? Do they just stop and lose their energy? Are they absorbed by us?
And generally, what happens to photons that “run out of energy”? Having no mass, they shouldn’t be converted to heat right?
In: Planetary Science
Yes, they get absorbed by us, by the light sensitive molecules in our eyes.
The energy they carried moves an electron to a higher (“excited”) energy state, and then a bunch of other stuff happens that ends up with a signal going to the brain.
>Having no mass, they shouldn’t be converted to heat right?
They have energy, which is the important part.
Photons can get converted into heat, but it depends on the wavelength. Infrared photons transfer energy to entire molecules, causing them to vibrate directly as heat. That’s why infrared light feels warm and is often called “heat” as well.
Other wavelengths of light don’t end up as heat directly, but can end up converted to heat eventually as other effects happen in atoms and molecules, unless the energy is used up otherwise, like in a solar cell.
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