Does it make sense to ask: How hard does a photon hit an object?

Does the waviness of photons make that a dumb question? If it does then what is a more correct way of conceptualizing the interaction of a photon with, for example, a light receptor? Or does the analogy in my head of a ball hitting a wall fairly represent the behavior of a photon at the moment of impact?

  • zibby
    2·
    4 years ago

    Photons are odd they have the properties of both a partial and a wave. I don’t think there are dumb questions when trying to understand that as it’s so counter intuitive. They do have momentum so things like a solar sail exist. For a light receptor I’m not sure of the interaction involved but it might be like a solar panel where light raises the quantum state of electrons. Einsteins photoelectric effect might be a good kicking off point if you fancy googling a bit more.