What happens when photons are absorbed or emitted from atoms?

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I understand energy is transferred, but if the photon was a ‘carrier’ of energy, what happens to the carrier?

During absorption where do they go, & during emission where do they come from?

In other words, I get that the energy in photons is absorbed into the electron. But what happens to the photon itself?

Likewise, when the energy is emitted from the electron in the form of the photon, where does this new photon come from?

How can a photon disappear into the nothingness or emerge from the nothing?

Update: From my understanding, photons have kinetic energy, which means that they need an object or mass of some kind to carry that. Yes, I know they have no mass, which is why I’m confused here. As in, how can kinetic energy travel just like that on its own without carrier medium of sorts?

In: Physics

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Like other bosons (interaction-mediating particles), it doesn’t have mass and literally can appear and disappear, it is simply the form in which this little discrete package of electromagnetic energy gets transported to elsewhere. I must admit that I don’t know why the universe works like that and not differently.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I think it is important to remember that science is descriptive and attempts to use its descriptions of reality to make predictions.

To say that a photon can be absorbed by an electron and then a new photon emitted from an electron is a description of reality. The photon, for all intents and purposes, disappears, the electron gains energy, then the electron loses energy, and a new photon appears.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The photon is not really a carrier of energy. It is the energy itself. A photon has no mass, there is nothing that could disappear to begin with.