What gives a photon its speed?

Since photons are massless, they travel at c, which is called the speed of light because the photon was the first known example of a massless particle. So the short answer to the question is that a photon knows to travel at the speed of light because it is massless.

What causes a photon to move?

A photon is a pulse of an electric field which when it collapses produces a magnetic field which when it collapses produces an electric field and so on and on until either the electric field and/or the magnetic field is absorbed by something. In other words the photon propagates itself thus moving away from the source.

What causes photons to lose energy?

A photon doesn’t lose energy unless it collides with a particle. Photons can scatter off interstellar electrons, for example. (Perhaps you were thinking about particles, like electrons, losing energy “in transit” in a vacuum. Photons carry energy, but they don’t lose energy just because they travel.

Why photon has momentum but no mass?

Since photons (particles of light) have no mass, they must obey E = pc and therefore get all of their energy from their momentum. If a particle has no mass (m = 0) and is at rest (p = 0), then the total energy is zero (E = 0).

Does momentum exist without velocity?

This is given as a solution to the problem of only massive objects being affected by gravity. However, momentum is the product of mass and velocity, so, by this definition, massless photons cannot have momentum.

What is themomentum of photon?

Momentum of Photon. Photon is a type of elementary particle which has a zero rest mass and moves with a speed of light in the vacuum. Einstein explained the momentum (p) of a photon with the given formula. The energy and momentum of a photon are related by the equation. E = pc.

What is the momentum of a photon?

The Momentum of a Photon The momentum of a photon is closely related to its energy. Just as the energy of a photon is proportionate to its frequency, the momentum of a photon is related to its wavelength. The momentum of a photon is given by the formula :

What happens to a photon when it is created?

When a photon is being created, it is acting mostly like a wave, and waves have no problem going a certain speed from the moment they are created. For instance, bob your hand up and down against a pond’s still surface and you will create water waves that ripple away from your hand.

How does gravity affect light (photons)?

There are two important concepts here that explain the influence of gravity on light (photons). where $m_0$ is the rest mass of the particle (0 in the case of a photon). Hence this reduces to $E = pc$. In other words, a photon does have relativistic mass proportional to its momentum.