Light Passing Through Materials
Most recent answer: 04/28/2015
- Bahy Shaheen (age 24)
Kennesaw
There are a number of claims in there that aren't true, although some resemble things that are taught.
Photons are not "smaller" than electrons, in any sense that we currently know about. Both exist as quantum smears, and neither has a known minimum size. Electron "shells" don't exist as real things, they're just partial descriptions of what sorts of definite-energy states electrons can have in atoms. The actual electron states are spread out, with no empty volumes.
For a given photon passing through a given collection of atoms, there's a certain probability that the photon will get through without being absorbed or scattered. As the collection of atoms gets thicker, that probability falls exponentially toward zero. It doesn't ever quite get exactly to zero, though it gets close enough for all practical purposes. No photons, however, are sneaking through empty spaces in the electron clouds.
Mike W.
(published on 04/28/2015)