The book said that the mass of a microscopic oscillator (what is that?) is not continuous, but discrete and the difference between states is an energy quanta: epsilon=h/nu=E_k−E_i And since m=(h nu)/c^2 then the (relativistic) mass of the photon is m=(h nu)/c^2 How did they deduce that?

Damien Horton

Damien Horton

Answered question

2022-07-20

The book said that the mass of a microscopic oscillator (what is that?) is not continuous, but discrete and the difference between states is an energy quanta:
ε = h ν = E k E i
And since m = h ν c 2 then the (relativistic) mass of the photon is
m = h ν c 2
How did they deduce that?

Answer & Explanation

Jorge Franklin

Jorge Franklin

Beginner2022-07-21Added 11 answers

This is probably related to the derivation of de-Broglie wavelength... Since photon has wave-particle duality,
We could equate Planck's quantum theory (wave nature) which gives the expression for energy of a wave of frequency ν, ( E = h ν) with Einstein's mass-energy equivalence (particle nature) which gives relativistic energy for photon ( E = m c 2 )
m c 2 = h ν
The resultant mass gives the relativistic mass for a moving photon (since photon has zero rest mass)

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