# Where does the light in the room go to when I switch off the power?.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-light-in-the-room-go-to-when-i-switch-off-the-power/762195>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 8, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-light-in-the-room-go-to-when-i-switch-off-the-power/762195 "2016-08-08T21:56:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-light-in-the-room-go-to-when-i-switch-off-the-power/762195/21 "2016-08-12T04:08:02Z")

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> [@gigi](#):
>
> Thank you, this is an explanation that makes sense to me. But then what is meant by “light is a wave and a particle”? It doesn’t mean a physical particle, does it, or where do those particles go?

Well, it does mean a “physical” particle, but a photon is one type of physical particle that readily converts to energy when it hits other types of physical particles.

You may find this unintuitive, because you are used to thinking about physical particles that mostly remain the same when they interact with other particles (e.g. the protons, neutrons and electrons that make up ordinary matter), but photons are particles just the same.

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**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-light-in-the-room-go-to-when-i-switch-off-the-power/762195/22 "2016-08-12T11:38:59Z")

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> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> You never see that because it is true that light is being absorbed at the same rate that it is emitted. As was mentioned above, even if the room is a .9999 perfect mirror all the light will be absorbed in a few microseconds.

Yes this does make perfect sense. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-light-in-the-room-go-to-when-i-switch-off-the-power/762195/23 "2016-08-12T14:01:49Z")

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> [@sweat209](#):
>
> So I’m not sure if you asking why there is no power unless you have short some where or incomplete wiring.

He’s not asking why there is no power. Where did you get that idea?

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