2007-12-10 05:14:17 · 5 answers · asked by jreim 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
It has to do with reflection and refraction, the ability (of energy) to bounce off and get absorbed by a material. Photons (what light is made of) are high energy "packets." In other words, they do have a physical aspect to them in the quantum physics world, even though in the "real" world, we treat them as pure energy.
In that sense, they can (and do in the "real" world) behave much like any other particle. Except that, because they are energy, they can also be absorbed by matter, which causes the matter that absorbs it to increase in energy, which most often results in an increase in temperature.
2007-12-10 05:20:40 · answer #1 · answered by ninjaphobos 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
LIght doesnt bounce off of the wall. What happens is that the atoms in the wall absorb the light. At that point the original light that was absorbed in the wall is gone, and has been converted into some other form of energy . In the process some of the energy of the light went into the electrons of the atoms, raising the electrons energy state. The atoms will then spontaneously emit /release the energy in the form of light. The llight will be of the same energy that was originally absorbed. The light that is emitted makes it to your eyes and that is the light that you see.
2007-12-10 16:25:26 · answer #2 · answered by Brian 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is actually a deep question. Lighting reflecting from a surface is not at all like a bouncing rubber ball.
If you think in terms of light as an electromagnetic wave, the electric field in the wave exerts an oscillating force on the electrons at the surface (and below) and those electrons reemit electromagnetic waves as they are accelerated.
It's amazing that the end result of this process simply looks like the light "bounced." But that's not at all what's really going on.
2007-12-10 13:28:09 · answer #3 · answered by Steve H 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why should something have to be solid to bounce off a wall?
Air bounces off walls, water kinda bounces off walls.
And light has wave characteristics. Look at how waves bounce off of things (sound would be a good model).
2007-12-10 13:18:37 · answer #4 · answered by Jonathan J 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Solids aren't the only things that bounce.
2007-12-10 13:17:59 · answer #5 · answered by ZikZak 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋