Re: Do ocean waves have mass?

George Dishman wrote:


The formula for mass as a function of energy E and
momentum p is this:

m^2 = sqrt(E^2/c^4 - p^2/c^2)

For any single photon, the second term equals the
first so the mass is zero. For two identical
photons moving in opposite directions, the total
energy is the sum of the energies but the total
momentum is zero, so one photon always has zero
mass but the aggregate of two photons of energy E
moving in opposite directions has mass m = 2E/c^2.

If you put energy E into the box in the form of EM
radiation, the mass of the whole increases by E/c^2
even though the mass of each photon is zero.

best regards
George


1. Let's see if I can correctly state the accepted physics.

For the box: When we add photons, the mass of the box increases, but
not because photons are contributing mass. The mass of the box
increases because the photons add energy to the system, and if you add
energy in any form, the system gains mass.

For an atom: If an atom absorbs a photon and is shifted to a higher
energy state, the mass of the atom must increase slightly due to the
additional energy, even though the photon is massless.

2. If you have two stationary, separated point charges in a "vacuum",
one positive and one negative, there will be an EM field between them
according to Maxwell's laws. Is this interaction mediated by photons
and, if so, do they go positive to negative, negative to positive, or
both ways.

Do you have to oscillate one of the charges to create photons?

3. Are there radio wave photons? It's mighty hard to conceptualize a
particulate radio wave! Are they wave-like, but with a discrete number
of wavelengths. Or is there some other conceptualization? Or is no
visualization possible?

4. It is often said that Planck's formula E=hv started the quantum ball
rolling, but mathematically I cannot see anything discrete in this
equation. Does discreteness come in because the frequencies emitted by
atoms are limited to discrete values?

Questions 2-4 are a couple of the questions that I have always wanted
to explore, but worried about exasperating the people who could answer
them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rob

.

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