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khil_phys
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According to Einstein's equation E=moc2, any object which has mass has energy, and, conversely, anything which has energy must also have mass. Then, why are photons, bosons and gluons said to be massless?
khil_phys said:According to Einstein's equation E=moc2, any object which has mass has energy, and, conversely, anything which has energy must also have mass. Then, why are photons, bosons and gluons said to be massless?
khil_phys said:Why is it so?
A photon is a fundamental particle of light that carries electromagnetic energy. It is considered to be the basic unit of light and is responsible for all electromagnetic interactions.
Photons are considered to be massless because they do not have a rest mass. In other words, they do not have a mass when they are at rest. However, they do have energy and momentum, which are related to their frequency and wavelength.
We know that photons are massless through various experiments and observations. One of the key pieces of evidence is the fact that photons travel at the speed of light, which is the maximum speed in the universe. This is only possible if they have no mass.
Photons are the carriers of the electromagnetic force. This means that they are responsible for all interactions between charged particles. When a charged particle emits or absorbs a photon, it creates an electromagnetic force between the particles.
According to current theories, photons cannot have mass. However, there are some theories that suggest that under certain extreme conditions, photons may acquire a very small mass. This is still a topic of research and has not been conclusively proven.