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Physics
Classical Physics
Optics
Photon Reflection: Questions & Answers
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[QUOTE="Nugatory, post: 5409232, member: 382138"] It is more complex. The behavior of photons interacting with matter (including reflection, refraction, and transmission) is covered by the theory of quantum electrodynamics. It is seriously daunting - the required background is such that one is unlikely to encounter it until after completing a four-year undergraduate program. However, Richard Feynman has a written an excellent layman-friendly book: "QED: The strange theory of light and matter" which you might want to try; just be aware that like all popularizations, it is no substitute for the real thing. Fortunately most phenomena involving light can be analyzed using classical physics and thinking of light as electromagnetic waves. Photons are only needed when explicitly quantum mechanical effects are involved, as with the photoelectric effect. You should also be aware that the word "particle", as used in quantum physics, means something very different than in ordinary English. A photon is not a little moving object that can bounce like a ricocheting bullet, and a beam of light is not a stream of photons flowing by. [/QUOTE]
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Photon Reflection: Questions & Answers
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