Do Photons Have Mass - Yes or No?

It's a poll, there seems to be some confusion from members as to whether or not photons possess mass. I believe they do, others say they do not. What do you think?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

like everything that travels at c it has no mass those that travel below c have mass and those that travel above c have negative mass

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

You believe they do? Why?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

In order to move in space the object must have some mass to propell it, thus Singularity seems to agree :L

 

Photons have no "rest mass", but any object with energy will have some mass due to E=mc^2. You can rearrange that equation to solve for "m" and get the mass of a photon if you know its energy.

 

WTF? How do you work that out?
And Singularhilarity's agreement means rien - nul - zero. She's already demonstrated a worse grasp of physics than my dead hamster has.

 

Your grasp is clearly evident in this thread

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

http://sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=66484

 

Oh you mean you STILL fail to understand? Never mind, presumably once you develop a second brain cell you'll learn to read and take in what's being said. Instead of just asking one inane question after another.
And re-read that post - I never mentioned MY grasp of physics... merely yours and that of my dead hamster.

 

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Does my lonliness have mass :shrug:

 

I say no...lonliness does not have mass.
Neither do photons.

Like Gravity I don't think there is anything to detect.. as far as matter is concerned...I believe it is an effect. And I believe that we are viewing this effect on the fabric of space or virtual particles....just like gravity is an effect of matter I believe light is an effect of energy ...almost like a reflection of energy off particles as it travels...thus it's seemingly dual nature.

 

Start a thread on that Saquist.

 

that would take time to formulate the premise accurately with the propper sourse data...I don't have that time at current.

 

Sounds very interesting.

 

Some here seem to think light does have mass, so who is correct?!

 

most people's perception of light and gravity is shaped by the thought that both travel through a vaccuum.

However Einstein made a mathematical allowance for virtual particles.
Imagine two particles come into existence simultaneously. They are oppositely charge. matter and antimatter. But just as quickly as they appear. They ahnhialate each other.
Virtual particles litteraly may occupy every square micron of the universe. It may be the very "fabric" of space that we've often referred to.
Some call this effect "quintessence."

Both Gravity and Light need a medium to transfer their respective forces...EM and Gravity.

The question is do we take into account the true effects of light and Gravity as they travel accross this "fabric of space."

 

The most fascintating thing about this premise is the by observing light as it appears to produce waves and particle maybe that we are actually seeing virtual particles themselves...in a way.

 

the theory of general relativity explains exactly this question, thats what made einstein famous, in my opinion it is questionable still and could be contested in the future when we have a greater understanding of the universe.


peace.

 

How would you calculate a photons (rest)mass? You cannot being the velocity & momentum down to zero to calculate (e/c2). Thus it has no mass.

 

Just because you can't calculate something doesn't mean it's 0