For convenience sake let’s say you have 2 identical lasers, one is blue and one is red. And you shine it on lead (so none of the light leaks through) until the lead doesn’t heat up anymore. Would the temperature change at all between the different color lasers. It doesn’t have to be red or blue, it could be microwave or x ray, just different colors is nessisary.
All EM waves are photons.
When X or gamma ray photons interact with matter, e.g. by Compton scattering, i.e. hitting electrons of an atom. Thereby the photons loose discrete amounts of energy, leading to an increase of their wavelengths, and the electrons are then lifted on corresponding higher energy levels. When the electrons ‘fall’ back onto their base levels, additional photons are emitted.
Microwave photons, however, have to low energy for this kind of interaction. They e.g. induce vibrations and oscillations of molecules which is perceived as a temperature increase.
Ooh neat! Thank you, very well described for a layman such as myself
You’re welcome.