I have been trying to figure out some details of the GPIO handling. I dont really know anything about electro engineering and am pretty much working with common sense all the time. While researching some GPIO limits I realized that the raspberry pi GPIO generally says that you can sink "16ma in OUT mode" and sink "0.5ma in IN mode". I am having a really hard time wrapping my head around what exactly the difference between configuring an output pin in output mode and setting it to Low is compared to an input PIN in whatever state.
Initially my first thought was that a LOW output pin is the same as an input pin. But the simple fact that all the recommendations say that you cannot sink the same current into an input pin and a low output pin makes me think that my thoughts are wrong.
What exactly is the difference between an input and an output pin (set to LOW) on electronics level (not software).