An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

→ Electromagnetic radiation in equilibrium in a → black body cavity. Photons can be treated as the simplest → ideal gas because all the particles move at the same velocity, the → speed of light. There are, nevertheless, two main differences. 1) Photons are → bosons and → Bose-Einstein statistics must be used. However, photons do not interact with each others so that no approximation is made by neglecting inter-particle forces. 2) Some photons scatter off the walls, with some being absorbed and new ones being emitted continually;
so that no constraint can be placed on their number.

See also: → photon; → gas.