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Does anyone know why science calls a photon a particles? Because the way I know the world particle mass s involved. In this case however a photon can not have mass because it travels at the speed of light. (it being the light we based the speed of said light on). It is a paradox it seems...or a stupid assumption.

2006-07-16 02:23:30 · 6 answers · asked by arjenvanslingerlandt 1 in Science & Mathematics Physics

6 answers

Photons are able to form directly into a mass, as when a very high frequency one strikes near the center of an atom, thus forming electron pairs. In this instance the photon has been converted into mass. The same is able to happen in an opposite manner. Mass is able to be directly converted into radiation. But as an entity unto themselves, radiation is radiation, and mass mass.

2006-07-16 08:02:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3 2

Photons are the scientific way of describing light as discrete points as opposed to the older theory of light as a wave. While they might be massless, they do have an associated momentum the depends on the frequency of the photon, governed by the equation Energy = (Planck's constant) * (frequency of the photon).

Photons are absorbed and emitted by energy changes that occur in matter, such as altering the rotational, vibrational, and electrical properties of molecules. In a sense, our eyes react with photons in the visible light spectrum that allows us to see. The energy changes work only because of the interaction of one photon on a particle (which affects other properties such as spin), while a wave would theoretically not have this limitation.

Understanding photons is not the easiest thing as it is not a classical particle, like an electron or a atomic nucleus, so it's not unexpected that the connections of a massless particle with a definite momentum are not obvious. However, quantum theory is fairly well-built on photon theory, and there is significant evidence to indicate its veracity.

2006-07-16 09:45:47 · answer #2 · answered by Ѕємι~Мαđ ŠçїєŋŧιѕТ 6 · 0 0

The problem is that 'particle' doesn't actually mean it has mass at all. It refers to the way something behaves... namely as a discrete object of defined size and energy that can interact with one other particle at one time. Light, originally thought to behave solely as a wave (it interferes with itself to produce nonuniform patterns, can be described by a wavefunction, etc.), can produce particulate effects, such as producing single points on a photographic film, or imparting momentum to individual electrons.

2006-07-16 09:30:29 · answer #3 · answered by DakkonA 3 · 0 0

Mostly because it has momentum, which is usually associated with having mass which gives it "particle like" behaviour. It has particle like behaviour because its wavelenth is so small. try to picture 10 water waves coming into shore where the crests of waves were say just 1cm apart. they would act as one, no longer behaving as a wave, more like a single particle. As electromagnetic waves become shorter in wavelength they behave more like particles

2006-07-16 09:33:56 · answer #4 · answered by mmf 3 · 0 0

Photons have mass in their dimension but have no mass relative to the electron.

2006-07-16 17:19:49 · answer #5 · answered by Balthor 5 · 0 0

they are particles, they have done experiments that prove it
they are massless particles

2006-07-16 09:27:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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