How do photons move through space?

As a photon moves through space, it exhibits oscillating electric and magnetic fields, and can interact with charged particles. These interactions slow it down, and cause it to move at a speed less than the speed of light as long as they’re in a material.

Do light photons travel forever?

Photon definitely will fade out and become something else. Light travels forever until it is absorbed. However, if it travels a very long way indeed, it is redshifted by the expansion of the universe.

Can photons pass through each other?

Since light itself does not have electric charge, one photon cannot directly interact with another photon. Instead, they just pass right through each other without being affected. For example, a photon can turn into an electron and an anti-electron.

What happens to light in space?

In contrast, light waves can travel through a vacuum, and do not require a medium. In empty space, the wave does not dissipate (grow smaller) no matter how far it travels, because the wave is not interacting with anything else. In this case, some light is absorbed and lost as heat, just like sound.

Does photon occupy space?

Short answer: Photons do not take up space. Long answer: If we consider the fact that photons are massless particles, they should not take up space, since it does not seem possible for something that has no mass to take up space. Short answer: Photons do not take up space.

Does light collide with light?

Classically, light cannot interact with light because photons – even though they mediate interactions between charged particles – do not themselves carry charge. There is then a tiny chance that these virtual particles can recombine to create pairs of real photons.

What happens to light energy in space?

As light travels away from a galaxy, the Universe is continually expanding, meaning that the distance the light needs to travel is continually increasing as well. As space stretches out underneath a beam of light, its wavelength increases, and its energy decreases.

Do photons run out of energy?

A photon doesn’t lose energy unless it collides with a particle. Photons can scatter off interstellar electrons, for example. Photons carry energy, but they don’t lose energy just because they travel.

Where do photons of light come from?

Fusion occurs in the sun’s innermost core, when two atoms merge, releasing energy and light in the process. Photons of light are first created in the sun’s center. Over tens of thousands of years, the photons travel a “drunken walk,” zigzagging their way from atom to atom until they reach the surface.