Editing Openai/680a25f8-9f18-8004-a42d-cd36374ba000 (section)

=== - Sunlight reaches almost all particles at once, especially in the early minutes after formation when the contrail is optically thin. ===
* Each particle is heated individually based on its own absorption and emission.
* If one particle absorbs less sunlight, the unabsorbed light simply passes through to hit particles behind it — it’s not “lost” or magically absorbed by the air.

✅ Total energy deposition is still spread across the entire contrail volume — there’s no escape from the total radiative input.