Note 2 on light absorption

I've been thinking more about this. Of course, the electron is only receptive to a certain wavelength of photons. If I am thinking about this correctly and the information I have is sufficient, then an electron should only be able to absorb a photon if it can jump to a higher energy state. This is determined by how large the nucleus is and how many other electrons there are in its vicinity. The wavelength that the electron can absorb is equal to the energy jump that the electron can make. The electron does not absorb other wavelengths because they do not correspond to a possible energy state.

My initial question was a bit unreasonable. I assumed that electrons are very small particles that move at the speed of light. That's why I thought it unlikely that they should collide with an electron. But I don't know any of those things. I know from experience that anything that is perceivable as a particle is not a point. And I know that electrons have several properties. If the size of an electron can be measured, it is because something can be said about the range of those properties.

But that does not necessarily mean that I can imagine the electron to be a weather balloon spinning around the Earth at the speed of light and say something about the probability that a weather balloon-sized projectile from outer space should collide with it.

In fact it seems much more unlikely to me that the electron should have something resembling a shell or a solid internal structure that forces it to keep its shape. I have made the assumption that the classical size of the electron concerns free electrons. But perhaps the properties of the electron spread out differently when they are close by a nucleus? If the reason for this is electromagnetic it shouldn't be too hard do demonstrate that. If it is not electromagnetic, then it is even more intriguing.

So, I am about to suggest to myself that the probability that an electron should collide with an photon may be increased while spinning around a nucleus on account of the electron being squished and having a larger receptive "surface" area. Also that free electrons do not absorb light at all. I really should get to trying to calculate the probabilities for these different scenarios. Maybe I'm already wasting my time (perhaps there is nothing wrong with the weather baloon-model after all). Where does the range of the forces in play come in?