Why can light particles not stay stationary like a nucleus of an atom?

Question

Is an atom technicly stationary; if so would that mean absolute zero which is said to be impossible?

Answer 1

It's really all relative! A photon at light speed would experience 100 percent time dilation due to it's velocity, therefore, it would appear stationary.

Clearly, since light travels at C, time cannot exist for a photon. This may explain some of the observed quantum weirdness such as photons "knowing" what path to take before the path exists (opening or closing a slit in the two-slit experiment after the photon has passed it changes the outcome).

A stationary object is in the same place at different times. An object in different places at the same time is moving infinitely fast. So I'd say from the photon's perspective, it is moving infinitely fast rather than being stationary.

Answer 2

I'm not sure why photons can't stay stationary, but technically, the nucleus of an atom is also not stationary. Absolute zero (whether impossible or not, I don't know) is zero thermal energy, and thermal energy is the vibrational energy of particles. The nuclear particles of an atom are always in constant vibrational motion when above absolute zero, regardless of their stationary appearance

Answer 3

If a particle were to possess zero thermal energy, then the particle's De Broglie wavelength would be undefinable. Thus, even at absolute zero, the particle would not cease vibrating. This continued vibration is caused by the energy fluctuations of the quantum vacuum, also known as the zero-point field.

Answer 4

Photons cannot be stationary in vacuum because they have zero rest mass. From E=mc^2 that means they would have no energy at rest. Nothing can exist unless is has *some* energy. The principle axiom of special relativity is that light in vacuum always travels at the same speed in *all* reference frames (neil b is stuck in Newton Land). A photon does have "relativistic mass", which means mass acquired due to motion in special relativity. In physics parlance, generally when once refers to "mass" without such qualification, one is referring to rest mass.

Answer 5

Light is emitted by vibrating atoms, it leaves it's source at the instantaneous speed, there is no period of acceleration.

Answer 6

Bose-Einstein condensate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate

Answer 7

Photons can be stationary.

Position is relative to one's frame of reference.

For instance, in a laser where light is cohesive, photons could appear stationary relative to one another.