It was designed in v.33.0 for the sole purpose of travelling in straight lines, I think this was possibly even before heat simulation and it didn't ven ignite wood back then.
Photons are the theoretic "particles" of light. because light rays behave the way they do, they are said to behave like particles. in this case, picture a laser pointer. this is what photons behave like in the powder toy. neutrons behave like a regular incandescent light bulb in the powder toy. the reason photons only move in straight lines in TPT, is because they actually travel in straight lines.