All Questions
Tagged with speed-of-light photons
249
questions
0
votes
0
answers
40
views
What is a simple example that contradicts the theory that light (photons) could have a super small mass? [duplicate]
The obvious example is that, to bring something that has mass to the speed $c$ requires infinite energy due to special relativity. But what if a kid asked me "What if light/photos had a super ...
- 1,090
2
votes
5
answers
464
views
Is a photon truly massless? [duplicate]
First of all, I am not a physicist or mathematician, not even a hobbyist but the following statements have always puzzled me:
$E=mc^2$
A photon is a desecrated particle of energy.
A photon is ...
- 61
-1
votes
0
answers
46
views
Is there a good quantum explanation of refraction? [duplicate]
I'm aware of the classical explanation of refraction which deals with light being a wave that gets "slowed" down while passing from a medium to another. One problem that I have with this ...
- 99
0
votes
0
answers
26
views
Why the photons are deflected during the refraction? [duplicate]
From what I learnt, when photons are passing throw a denser environnement with an positive angle (from the atmosphere to water for exemple), they are slow down. But I can't understand how this ...
0
votes
0
answers
32
views
What is the speed of light during reflection? [duplicate]
What is the speed of light in a vacuum when the light reflects off of a mirror?
- 331
3
votes
1
answer
109
views
How is it possible that photons already move at the speed of light the moment they pop into existence? [duplicate]
This is a thought experiment and I might be horribly wrong. If we have an electron-positron annihilation a photon pops into existence. This photon is then supposedly moving at speed of light at the ...
0
votes
0
answers
33
views
Does light accelerate? [duplicate]
If considering the general formula for acceleration, ie.
Δ V/ΔT, we would get zero as the velocity of light is constant and does not change.
However, what about when photons travel through different ...
- 133
0
votes
0
answers
108
views
Do photons moving at $c$ slow down when entering a medium or take a longer path and only appear to slow down and what happens to time? [duplicate]
Imagine a photon leaving a vacuum and entering a medium, say, air. I have 2 questions:
Some claim that the photon is slowed by the medium so its speed becomes less than $c$. Is that true or does ...
- 29
0
votes
2
answers
130
views
Length contraction for photons
Since light travels at the speed of light towards a target, the spatial distance to the target seems to be zero, owing to Lorentz transformation. It seems that there is a logical flaw here. Can ...
- 135
1
vote
1
answer
55
views
Is it possible for photons to gain mass and interact with the higgs field? [closed]
If objects gain mass as they approach the speed of light, is it possible that as a photon "attempts" to exceed the speed of light it gains enough mass to interact with the higgs field ...
- 31
1
vote
0
answers
75
views
How long until light reaches me if I travel away from a point? [closed]
Let's assume that:
I'm 1 light year away from some point in space
I'm travelling away from that point at 0.5c (or whatever fraction of the speed of light it takes for relativity to play a big role)
A ...
- 111
-3
votes
2
answers
98
views
What happens to the velocity of a photonic rocket as it approaches $c$? [closed]
Imagine you have a photonic rocket (powered by something like antimatter). If it accelerates at a constant $9.8m/s^2$, it'll reach a velocity of $c$, the speed of light, in around 350 days. What ...
- 1
0
votes
1
answer
67
views
Relative speed between two photons [duplicate]
Is it possible to fix an inertial frame to a photon moving in vacuum?
If yes, what is the speed of another photon moving in vacuum with respect to this frame?
What is the proper time measured by the ...
- 141
1
vote
2
answers
551
views
Finding mass of photon with de Broglie wavelength
The de Broglie wavelength equation is given by:
$$\lambda = \frac{h}{mv}$$
Even though this is used to find the wavelength of the matter (matter waves) , I was curious to find the mass of photon ...
- 648
0
votes
1
answer
168
views
Shorter wavelength of photon in detecting a particle
I came across a post on this in the community but wasn't satisfied with the answer,so i am making a new post. Why do we need short wavelength to measure the position of a particle accurately?
The ...
- 1,179