Can energy exist without mass?

In summary, the conversation discusses the concept of energy and mass and whether or not energy can exist without mass. The group discusses how energy and mass are interchangeable but not the same thing, and how energy always has some form of mass associated with it. They also mention the concept of the universe being primarily made up of energy and how energy and mass are related in physical processes such as pair production, nuclear fusion, and gravitational bending of light. Overall, the group agrees that energy and mass cannot exist separately and are interconnected.
  • #36
russ_watters said:
Your quote does NOT say that photons have mass. You misread/overinterpreted a simplistic bullet point. For full treatment you should read the full article they linked at the end of the point!

...or better yet, read the article specific to the question: the photon article. It says in plain english a dozen times that the photon has no mass!

What article at the end of the point? (Did I misunderstand what a "Point" is in wikipedia? I didn't see anything linked after the part I quoted.)

Alright, I wholeheartily agree that photons have no mass. I've read up a little bit more on it all and it appears to me that there is simply a lot of confusion over the concept of mass. This quote from Einstein sums it up pretty well in my opinion.

It is not good to introduce the concept of the mass of a moving body for which no clear definition can be given. It is better to introduce no other mass concept than the 'rest mass' m. Instead of introducing M it is better to mention the expression for the momentum and energy of a body in motion.

Gotta go do some stuff here at work, I'll be back later.
 
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  • #37
In addition to my previous post, I have read that the concept of Relativistic mass is outdated and not used anymore. No wonder there's confusion...

So, Photons have NO mass of any type (since I guess there's really only 1 type of mass, rest mass?).
 

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