Photons have no rest mass, but they do have "relativistic mass". Their momentum is defined by Einstein's famous equation:Photons having zero mass is another whole can of worms in regards to modern physics.
They say photons have no mass but that they do have momentum, which is proven by the small but measurable recoil that lasers experience.
So if momentum = mass x velocity (p=mv), how then does something with no mass have momentum?
E2 = m2c4 + p2c2
substituting m=0
E2 = p2c2
or
E = pc
solving for momentum:
p = E/c
Experimentally, it's virtually impossible to show that photons actually have 0 rest mass because there is always some margin of error in our measurements. The best we can do is put an upper limit on what its mass could be. Right now that upper limit is 3.9 × 10-22 times smaller than an electron.
Thanks Clete.Clete said:I saw your response to my last post but I simply don't have the time to type up a substantive response. I just want to post a quick note to say that it's not that I'm ignoring you, I'm just got too many pots on the stove to be a consistent participant in the thread.