UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
How do you calculate rest mass for mass/massless particles? How do you calculate energy compsumtion for a mass particles as it is accelerated faster and faster up to the speed of light, or faster? For massless particles? For tachyon-type particles?
Question Date: 2007-06-19
Answer 1:

There is no rest mass for mass-less particles. When we refer to mass less particles we mean something without rest mass. For particles that have a rest mass, it is literally the mass of the particle that one would observe if you were to perform any mass experiment on it from the rest frame of reference (i.e. you are moving with the particle such that it looks like it's not moving with respect to you. So if you're floating in outer space, it is floating with you, or if you're going in a car moving at constant velocity, it is moving in the car with you. Theyre all the same).



Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use