where do photons go after hitting our eyes?

Question

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

Answer 1

They get absorbed by whatever particle (usually an electron [or electron cloud] around an atom). When flying through space one never “runs out of energy” for the same reason celestial bodies don’t slow down, there’s nothing to stop it. When something stops it, it gets absorbed.