: : I would like to learn more about light and its : : relationship to matter. Does light have mass and : : if so, what is its mass?

: : Thank you for your time. : : Jacob

: :Hi, my name is Josh Hines, and I am quite interested in some aspects of theoretical physics. I was just playing around when this came to me. I'm sure there are better proofs or even this same one, but if anybody is interested in this like me, then I'd like to talk to you about anything, but as I am simply a Tenth Grade student at Thomas Dale H.S. in Chester VA, I might take a while to catch on.So, for anybody interested:

: DOES LIGHT HAVE MASS? NO : This is my proof by contradiction.

: : Assume ~S-Assume light has mass.

: According to mass dilation, an object containing mass (matter) reaching the speed of light would gain an infinite mass.

: "Fg=G(M1*M2)/D2" is the equation for the gravitational attraction between two objects, so substituting 6.67*10-11 for "G", one gets Fg=6.67*10-11(M1*M2)/D2

: If light has mass, then its mass would dilate to infinity and the equation would become Fg=6.67*10-11(**M2)/D2

: If one multiplies or divides infinity by any definite number, then the expression remains infinite, so Fg=* for all objects with a definable mass and distance from this light.

: Since F=ma, *=ma, */m=a, *=a, and if the acceleration of all objects with definable masses and distances from the light would be gravitated at an infinite rate toward the light which would now be an infinitely small spot in space which could actually be called a point, I think.

: Once this happens, on the way to an infinite velocity, we must pass a time at which we reach the speed of light, and our masses dilate to infinity.

: The contradiction occurs when you realize that we are neither moving at an infinite velocity, nor are we consisting of infinite mass.

: Since "~S" is false, then "S" must be true, therefore light is massless.

: Some questions to think about are:

: If light is massless, then how can black holes pull it in?

: If we were to be traveling at the speed of light, and all objects' masses dilated to infinity, then in what direction would all the objects go? Would they head toward the center of creation, the area of highest mass concentration, or would they, by the nature of infinity, be attracted in all directions at once?

: Some things I want to know are:

: What is the nature of mass dilation? Is it the increase of density or volume? Also, are there any theories as to how one could get around this infinite gravitational attraction? An actual version of Star Trek's warp bubble, or some other theoretical warping of space which would act to shield the outside universe from harmful side effects?

: Something else I want to know is, if sound would accelerate to the speed of light at about 500,000,000 m/s, could a supernova actually heat up enough to cause the resulting shockwave to travel faster than the speed of light and therefore reach planets before they could see it coming?

Hi my name is Samantha and I just had a thought to put to you. I feel that we have already lived our lives at the speed of light or we are time travelling looking back at our lives through the speed of sound. Humans have evolved from passing on information, word of mouth being one of them. What if we have already destroyed our planet and found an alternative way to live i.e in the air surely as we travel at the speed of light the spped of sound is slowly trailing behind like tracers on your mouse cursor

• What is light? - Tom_Osborn/">Tom Osborn - December 26, 1999 - 09:35 UTC
• anti matter - bobweiss - November 16, 2001 - 04:02 UTC