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jawshoeaw t1_j8gw48k wrote

First of all, Light doesn’t “slow down” because of absorption and re-emission. This is fairly easy to prove by simply choosing a wavelength of light that isn’t absorbed by that particular medium. It will still slow down or appear to do so. Interestingly you can in fact shoot single photons through a medium and they will do the same thing that millions of them do: change direction and appear to slow down. But what’s actually happening is that the photon is interacting with the electric fields of the atoms in the medium. A photon is still a wave and the wave is altered as it adds and subtracts with the electric fields around it. You can’t label a wave since it’s not a thing. Is the photon that comes out the other end the same photon? Sort of. But not really because light is really more imo a wave with some peculiar particle like properties. And it’s wave like properties are subject to addition and subtraction

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shouldbebabysitting t1_j8jljhy wrote

"I want to emphasize that light comes in this form-particles. It is very important to know that light behaves like particles, especially for those of you who have gone to school, where you were probably told something about light behaving like waves. I'm telling you the way it does behave- like particles."

Feynman, "QED The Strange Theory of Light and Matter"

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