1

When particles increase their speeds, their (relativistic) mass increases. But this isn't observed in the case of a photon. So it was deducted that the rest mass of a photon is zero. Why is the rest mass of a photon zero?

Qmechanic
  • 201,751
M. Singh
  • 71
  • https://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-physics-basics/the-known-apparently-elementary-particles/the-known-particles-if-the-higgs-field-were-zero/ – peterh Jun 23 '17 at 05:34
  • Your statement applies to particles that HAVE rest mass, but light has no rest mass, it is a fundamental known property of light.( It's the same as asking why does an electron have charge- no one really knows exactly why). – Tausif Hossain Jun 23 '17 at 05:51
  • 1
    Effectively a duplicate of https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/4700/ – Kyle Kanos Jun 23 '17 at 09:59
  • Possible duplicates: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/4700/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/31994/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/191451/2451 and links therein. – Qmechanic Jun 23 '17 at 10:24

0 Answers0