But usually the atom releases the photon in some other random direction, and the dot is redrawn that quantum distance in the opposite direction.

An atom absorbs the light for a short time and then releases it.

When the atoms release the light, it has been delayed.

For example, when the heating element in a toaster turns bright red, the red color is caused by atoms, excited by heat, releasing red photons.

A laser is a device that controls the way that energized atoms release photons.

In nuclear fusion, atoms merge and release bursts of energy, as in the sun or in hydrogen bombs.

Two identical atoms with electrons in identical states will release photons with identical wavelengths.

Recording pens jumped as splitting atoms released a frenzy of speeding neutrons.

A hydrogen bomb fuses light atoms, usually isotopes of hydrogen, to release energy stored in the atomic nucleus.

In returning to their former energy levels these atoms or molecules release the energy that they had gained.