That's where you're wrong: momentum only equals mass X speed for particles with non-zero mass traveling at (relatively) slow speeds. As confinement explained, massless particles (like photons) do carry momentum but it's not given by mv.jalalmalo said:How can a photon have a momentum p, which if I'm not wrong is equal to mass X speed, when the photon doesn't have a rest mass?
A photon is a fundamental particle that carries electromagnetic energy. It has zero mass and travels at the speed of light. It is also known as the quantum of light.
Light is made up of photons. When an object absorbs energy, it can release this energy in the form of photons. These photons then travel through space as light waves.
Photons exhibit properties of both particles and waves. They can travel through space as waves, but when they interact with matter, they behave like particles. They also have a dual nature of both being particles and waves at the same time.
The energy of a photon is determined by its frequency. The higher the frequency, the more energy the photon has. This is why blue light, which has a higher frequency than red light, has more energy.
Photons cannot be created or destroyed, but they can be converted into other forms of energy. For example, when a photon is absorbed by an atom, it can excite the electron and convert into chemical energy.