What is the rest mass of a photon traveling through water?
Let v be the speed of this photon, and c the speed of light in vacuum.
Because v>0, the photon has some energy E>0. But the photon is traveling through water so v<c.
From special relativity we know that E=m0*γ*c², with:
m0=photon rest mass
γ=1/sqrt(1-(v/c)²)
Because v<c, γ>0.
But E>0, then...
show more
Let v be the speed of this photon, and c the speed of light in vacuum.
Because v>0, the photon has some energy E>0. But the photon is traveling through water so v<c.
From special relativity we know that E=m0*γ*c², with:
m0=photon rest mass
γ=1/sqrt(1-(v/c)²)
Because v<c, γ>0.
But E>0, then m0>0.
But this is impossible because I read that photon rest mass is always 0, so where's my error?
Thank you.
Because v>0, the photon has some energy E>0. But the photon is traveling through water so v<c.
From special relativity we know that E=m0*γ*c², with:
m0=photon rest mass
γ=1/sqrt(1-(v/c)²)
Because v<c, γ>0.
But E>0, then m0>0.
But this is impossible because I read that photon rest mass is always 0, so where's my error?
Thank you.
Follow
5 answers
5
Are you sure you want to delete this answer?