Now, photons, the quanta (the ostensibly smallest quantum units) of light, are supposed to be energy without mass: in other words, they are claimed by some to not be made of matter although they have a direct relationship with the material world. Like the empty space between atoms [2] (and empty space, like logically necessary truths and the uncaused cause, by necessity exists prior to and independent of the physical cosmos, whatever scientists or theologians might pretend [3]), photons are among the sometimes subtly acknowledged immaterial existents proposed by otherwise metaphysically naturalistic scientists. Though they might be called fundamental particles, they are said to not be miniscule units of matter like electrons or quarks, also deemed fundamental particles, but are instead alleged to be matterless altogether.
This would mean, if the hearsay is true, that photons are in a sense not strictly part of the natural world, as they have no physical substance. Since sensory observation and interaction with the world of matter are still related to light, this remains a scientific issue despite how science is about matter and not about the immaterial side of metaphysics. Of course, one cannot know if things like immaterial photons or many of the seemingly physical objects around us really exist outside of our conscious perceptions, and we cannot directly perceive quantum energy or particles regardless, but we can see macroscopic light in our everyday lives. Immaterial as photons and the visible light they generate seem to be, the external world it illuminates would be physical, though experiments could be performed that reveal what seems to be the case about how light interacts with nature.
Galileo's lantern experiment of 1638 is one such example regarding the speed of light in particular, though its extreme rapidity—for it seems to us to appear instantaneously—and the imprecision of then-contemporary timing mechanisms imposed empirical limitations. Much has been investigated or proposed since then. Today, in addition to the aforementioned quantum scale of light "particles," the cosmological distances light can travel, related to why we would only be seeing distant galaxies as they were in the past, have received much attention. The speed of light has been pinpointed as 186,000 miles per second in a vacuum, with slight to significant variations in the perceived speed occuring when light hits certain substances. The speed of light seemingly slows in a medium like water due to the high refractive index, for instance. Eventually, the macroscopic luminosity of light can be drowned out altogether, and this would have to be the case for there to be a bathypelagic zone in the ocean (starting at 1,000 meters below the surface).
Otherwise, no layers of the deep sea could ever be fully immersed in darkness, except for that which is dispelled by bioluminescence. Without a boundary past which light is entirely muted or absorbed, sunlight would reach all the way to the bottom of every trench even if its visibility weakened with depth; light would only be blocked when debris or creatures briefly separate a given spot from its rays. The bathypelagic, abyssopelagic, and hadopelagic zones are, however, shrouded in darkness. What light is present, save for some that might penetrate down to around 1,000 meters supposedly under the right circumstances, originates from local sources like the appendage of the female anglerfish. Observing this still would tell us nothing about the quantum processes that contribute to such a phenomenon, though. Do photons continue moving at their same speed unhindered and undissipated even if the light loses its macroscopic visibility?
Regardless, it is paradoxical that something ostensibly consisting of nonphysical energy would be impacted in its sensory perceivability by a physical medium such as water, but my immaterial mind still controls behaviors of my body despite having no physical substance. Pertaining to quantum and macroscopic physics alike without actually being part of the material cosmos according to one paradigm, light is a highly foundational yet nuanced subject of science. Providing literal illumination of the environments and objects around us, light is vital to basic human activities and is complex in its metaphysical composition. The nature of photons and general quantum energy is, while secondary to the primary of logic, the uncaused cause, and empty space (as well as one's own consciousness on an epistemological level since it is self-evident along with axioms), of great relevance to the reliance of what is comprised of matter on what is immaterial.
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