Laravel models acts like array? - development

Laravel models acts like array?

I know about PHP Array Objects but I have never seen laravel models working like this…Its kinda strange. Heres the actual code..

 public function getUserChats()
{
    $users = [];
    $chats1 = Chat::where('sender_id','=',auth()->user()->id)->get();
    $chats2 = Chat::where('reciever_id','=',auth()->user()->id)->get();
    foreach ($chats2->toArray() as $chat2) {
        $user = new UserResource(User::where('id','=',$chat2['sender_id'])->first());
        array_push($users, $user);
    }
    foreach ($chats1->toArray() as $chat1) {
        $user = new UserResource(User::where('id','=',$chat1['reciever_id'])->first());
        array_push($users, $user);
    }
    return $users;
}


//The above method works but this one doesn't works
 public function getUserChats()
{
    $users = [];
    $chats1 = Chat::where('sender_id','=',auth()->user()->id)->get();
    $chats2 = Chat::where('reciever_id','=',auth()->user()->id)->get();
    foreach ($chats2->toArray() as $chat2) {
        $user = new UserResource(User::where('id','=',$chat2->sender_id)->first());
        array_push($users, $user);
    }
    foreach ($chats1->toArray() as $chat1) {
        $user = new UserResource(User::where('id','=',$chat1->reciever_id)->first());
        array_push($users, $user);
    }
    return $users;
}

Notice inside the for each loop how I have to access the sender_id from $chat1 and $chat2 . I want to know whats actually going on .. Its more of a theoretical
question…Thanks for the response

from Laravel Questions and Answers https://laravelquestions.com/php/laravel-models-acts-like-array/
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