Bundle of energy, but does it have mass?

[myrhinobutt2]

This is a two part question. First question: what exactly is a photon? I know that it's essentially a bundle of energy, but does it have mass? Can it be related by E=mC^2?

Second question: If I were to find a perfectly smooth spherical mirror (also assuming the distance between atoms is sufficiently small that the light cannot escape) and somehow turn on a light inside, would the photons somehow build up and become jammed in there?

 

[sokrates]

Photons don't have mass but they have momentum. You don't write

E =mc^2 for a photon but you write E = h f , h being the Plank's constant and f being the frequency.

Photon, simply put, is the quantization of electromagnetic energy. Depending on the context, we could observe particle properties of photons (Compton scattering, photoelectric effect) or the more natural classical wave properties. People had been familiar more with the latter by the time it was discovered so photoelectric effect and Compton were quite a shock.

 

[Entropia]

I can provide the following response to these questions:

Firstly, a photon can be described as a fundamental particle of light and electromagnetic radiation. It is considered to be the smallest unit of light and carries a specific amount of energy. However, unlike other particles such as electrons or protons, photons do not have mass. This is because they are not made up of any subatomic particles and instead, they are considered to be massless.

In terms of the famous equation E=mc^2, it cannot directly be applied to photons as they do not have mass. This equation specifically relates to the energy and mass of a massive object, while photons do not fall under this category. However, the energy of a photon can be related to its frequency and wavelength through the equation E=hf, where h is Planck's constant and f is the frequency of the photon.

As for the second question, if you were to place a light source inside a perfectly smooth spherical mirror, the photons would not become jammed or trapped. Photons are constantly moving at the speed of light and do not interact with each other in a way that would cause them to accumulate or get stuck in one place. They would simply continue to bounce off the mirror's surface and reflect outwards, creating an endless cycle of reflection.

I hope this explanation helps clarify the concept of photons and their properties. it is important to understand the fundamental aspects of particles and their behaviors in order to further our understanding of the world around us.