When it comes to light passing through objects I wasnt sure if the light actually passes between the atoms or if it is absorbed by the atoms and is then emitted by the atoms in sequence until its passes through it entirely. Why else would lights speed slow in various mediums?
Similarly, when light is reflected, are the photons actually bouncing off the atoms, or are they being absorbed and emitted back at the same angle?
If they are, why do atoms shoot the photons off at the same angle opposed to a random one?
In: Physics
It just passes through.
Physical objects are not really physical in the way we think. They are tiny bits of matter with a large electromagnetic field around them. Things interact with the electromagnetic field, not the bits of mass.
When light enters an atom, it is absorbed if an electron that will absorb that frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum. If there is no such electron, the light just passes through.
Clear glass will not absorb visible light. Its electrons will not absorb those frequencies.
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So, it’s sorta pretty weird. We have to remember that light is also a wave, and the way it travels through matter is wave-like more than it is particle light.
If you aren’t familiar, waves obey the property of superposition – that is that the height of two interacting waves at any given point in space is literally the sum of the heights of the two contributing waves at that point in space.
So, light is a wave in the electromagnetic spectrum. It has a speed and it has a wavelength.
When this wave interacts with matter, the changing electromagnetic field causes the electrons in matter to begin oscillating back and forth.
Well, oscillating charged particles produce their own electromagnetic field. This electromagnetic field interacts with the electromagnetic field of the incoming light.
By superposition, these two waves are added together. The result is… sorta not intuitive. What you end up with is a changing electromagnetic field that travels at a speed that is neither the speed of light nor the speed of the electrons. Please watch [This Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIqKG5TiSYs&t=6s) for a visual understanding of how that is possible.
[Here is a video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUjt36SD3h8) that gives the more detailed explanation of the question you are asking. The first video is geared towards a visual understanding, the second video is geared towards an actual explanation.
They bounce. And the higher the index of refraction is for that material, the more times it bounces, which is why the “speed of light” is slower in materials with a high index of refraction
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