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Asked by slayertom to Alan, Caspar, Diana, Murray, Sarah on 21 Mar 2011 in Categories: General.
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Alan Winfield answered on 21 Mar 2011:
Probably nothing! Photons are very tiny packets (quanta) of light and two light beams that collide mostly just pass straight through each other. In fact they do interact (interfere) with each other as they’re colliding, but the interesting thing is that after they’ve passed through each other they seem to come out unchanged. The interaction between photons is the basis for laser interferometry and holography.
A famous scientist called Michelson invented an Interferometer in the 19th century – a version of his instrument was used in a very famous experiment called the Michelson-Morley experiment to show experimental evidence for relativity. There’s a really nice Wikipedia article on it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson_interferometer
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Murray Collins answered on 21 Mar 2011:
Hi – I think you should ask the specialists in the space zone on this one 🙂
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Caspar Addyman answered on 21 Mar 2011:
since photons are waves as well as particles you can’t really collide them like you could with snooker balls. but if they have the same wavelength ( the same energy) but have opposite polarity then they can get them to cancel each other out. and in other circumstances they will interfere with each other. But most of the time they can pass though space without effecting each other.
Mind you i did once here that it takes thousands of years for light to escape from the centre of the sun because it keeps bumping into things on the way out.
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Sarah Thomas answered on 21 Mar 2011:
It is generally believed that photons cannot technically collide with each other. Photons behave as waves in free space and when they cross paths, they can interfere with each other but the interference pattern is a bit like ripples on water that approach each other, form a pattern of peaks and troughs and then continue on their way.
If matter is present where the photons cross, effects caused by accelerated electric charges may allow the photons to interact. This interaction is not technically a collision but it can result in an exchange of energy with many possible outcomes.
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Diana Drennan answered on 21 Mar 2011:
This seems to be a duplicate question, I’ve answered that here. /chlorinem11-zone/2011/03/what-would-happen-if-you-collided-a-photn-with-another-photon.
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