Photons increase in mass?

[Isaac]

So when momentum is changed, by a mirror or by a black hole's gravity, a photon will have more mass? Is it really that simple? And, when light particles combine, into a bond state, they also increase in mass?

I'm trying to understand how light particles gain mass, while at the bottom of the math physics learning curve.

[Top Gun]

I can cut you off right here by stating that photons have zero rest mass, no matter what they're doing.

[AlphaDoG]

So when momentum is changed, by a mirror or by a black hole's gravity, a photon will have more mass? Is it really that simple? And, when light particles combine, into a bond state, they also increase in mass?

I'm trying to understand how light particles gain mass, while at the bottom of the math physics learning curve.

Dude if you are indeed old enough to study such things, why make ME do YOUR research?

Git-r-DONE!

[dissent]

Dude if you are indeed old enough to study such things, why make ME do YOUR research?

Git-r-DONE!

Yeah.


Google "do photons have mass",
get stuff like this -
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_a ... 60731.html


Have fun, my little mathematical flounder.

[Verran]

*cough* http://lmgtfy.com/?q=do+photons+have+mass *cough*

[Kilarin]

Photons have Mass? I didn't even realize they were Catholic!

[Foil]

To say the least, there's a lot of misunderstanding about this topic.

Here's the fundamental thing to understand: There are two 'types' of mass being talked about here.

One is \"rest mass\" or \"invariant mass\" or \"intrinsic mass\". Being very un-technical, you can think of this as the classic \"mass\" we all learned about in grade school.

The other, and usually the source of the confusion, is something called \"relativistic mass\". It's essentially a term which acts like mass in the equations for relativistic motion. It's described and taught different ways (and there's still debate about the terminology), but when physicists say things like \"mass increases near light speed\", they're talking about relativistic mass.

So... do photons have zero mass? Depends on what you're talking about. They have zero rest mass, but nonzero relativistic mass.

... Does that help?

[Isaac]

To say the least, there's a lot of misunderstanding about this topic.

Here's the fundamental thing to understand: There are two 'types' of mass being talked about here.

One is "rest mass" or "invariant mass" or "intrinsic mass". Being very un-technical, you can think of this as the classic "mass" we all learned about in grade school.

The other, and usually the source of the confusion, is something called "relativistic mass". It's essentially a term which acts like mass in the equations for relativistic motion. It's described and taught different ways (and there's still debate about the terminology), but when physicists say things like "mass increases near light speed", they're talking about relativistic mass.

So... do photons have zero mass? Depends on what you're talking about. They have zero rest mass, but nonzero relativistic mass.

... Does that help?

I think so. Thanks.

[dissent]

Photons have Mass? I didn't even realize they were Catholic!

Jesus did say "I am the light of the world ..."

[Floyd]

yer at college aight? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library

[Isaac]

Paper converted pages? How innovative!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books