Can the mass of a photon be varied?
2007-02-20 20:16:05 · 8 answers · asked by rajesh bhowmick 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
mass will vary when the object is moving at relativistic speeds
2007-02-21 22:21:21 · answer #1 · answered by IN PURSUIT OF WISDOM 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually, mass is the amount of matter contained in an object or a substance. Now, photon is also an object or substance kind of a thing. Thus, the mass of the won't vary, like any pther particle.
Also, some people say that a photon has no mass, but scientificaly it is not possible, for something to exist in the world and has zero mass. Yes, photon has mass but it is so small that it is considered negligible, like that of electron.
We all know that an electron has a mass of 9.1 X 10 -28 gms., that is very small, similarly mass of a photon is considered negligible.
Hope you have got your answer and you will rate mine as the best answer!!
2007-02-21 04:59:45 · answer #2 · answered by Geetansh Gupta 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Photons do not have mass as such, but they do have energy and therefore have momentum. In space it is possible to construct a Solar Sail, which would move purely based on the fact of photons hitting it.
This is given by the equation-:
Energy = Planck's Constant * Frequency
i.e. the higher the frequency the more energy the photon has - this is why an X-ray photon has much more energy than one of visible light say.
Photons display a behavior called wave-particle duality, where they can act as a wave or a particle depending upon specific situations.
These effects can be proved-:
(to act as particles) by the 'Photo-Electric Effect'
(to act as waves) by the de Broglie wavelength and the Compton Effect.
You can look both these up on Wikipedia.
2007-02-21 07:47:33 · answer #3 · answered by Doctor Q 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think you can talk of a photon as a material particle with a mass. Its energy is Plank's constant nu multiplied by its frequency. So photons of higher frequency will have higher energy and if they get converted to a mass in a pair production, they will generate two partilces of mass m/2 each such that E = mc^2 where E is the energy of the photon and m is the combined mass of the two particles like electron and positron. If any excess energy is there in the original photon, that is transfered as kinetic energy to the two particles.
2007-02-21 04:25:42 · answer #4 · answered by Swamy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think mass of photon is very very small so its mass is not considered. Since every matter or object has its own mass so photon should also has mass which is absolutely less than an electron.
2007-02-21 05:31:18 · answer #5 · answered by PearL 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
PHOTONS HAVE MASS!!!
they are attracted by black holes, right?
mathematicaly its mass should vary depending on it`s speed, but since the speed of light
c = const
i don`t think it changes. ever.
2007-02-21 08:18:38 · answer #6 · answered by gordan p 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do not think that photon has any mass.
2007-02-21 04:40:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Photon is a massless particle.
It is a form of energy though.
it is corpuscular theory
2007-02-21 08:38:44 · answer #8 · answered by vinoth k 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋