"Jim" wrote in message
...
Holy crap, I knew somebody would know, but now I've got a splitting
headache. I wonder what happens to all the particles of light that can't
make it through windows. Do they pile up on the window sill? Never mind,
my brain hurts


Particles of light that do not make it through the window and which are not
reflected by the surface are absorbed into the structure. The excess energy
is then radiated away as heat.

The difference between a particle and a wave is the difference between
ripples on the water and the stone you threw in there. The particle is the
object itself. Waves are the measurable effect of the passage of the
particle. It is a fundamental axiom of physics that for very small particles
you can measure either the wave or the particle, but not both
simultaneously. Hence you can look at light as either a wave and measure its
characteristics in that manner, or you can look at where a particular photon
is and measure its characteristics at that moment. The reason is there is
nothing small enough to see both. How would you 'see' a photon, no matter
how much you magnified it? All you can see is where it went.

The light bulb does not create photons. It emits photons that are already
stored in the bulb. It probably absorbs enough electrons in the process so
that its weight does not change significantly.