190 views

When photons are emitted, do they accelerate to reach the speed of light? [duplicate]

Photons are considered mass-less particle with a specific velocity but according to the electromagnetic theory, a photon is considered to have both energy and momentum. So what happen when they are ...
128 views

Photon speed going from $0$ to $c$ initially? [duplicate]

I have read many questions which ask whether there can be photons at speed other than the speed of light and all of them are answered no! But when the photon is created for ex during electron ...
225 views

Does light photons have jerk? [duplicate]

While searching in web regarding whether rate of change of acceleration is possible or not; I came across the concept of jerk. I want to know whether photons which can be accelerated can also have ...
82 views

Can photons accelerate? [duplicate]

I was just wondering if there's a (hypothetical) situation where a photon could accelerate and what the consequences of this might be?
123 views

Does light initially accelerate? [duplicate]

Light travels with a speed of $3\times10^8{m\over s}$. My question is that was the light initially accelerating or it archived the speed in an instance? If it was accelerating then why it did not ...
61 views

Does light ever experiences acceleration? [duplicate]

Till now I have learned that light has fastest speed. But I have also noticed that wherever it travels it only experiences retardation. So I wanted to know if light ever felt acceleration naturally in ...
39 views

Is there any acceleration of light? [duplicate]

I find it hard to believe that photons always travel with 3 x 10^8 m/s just from the start. But there must be some acceleration of light. Maybe huge or taking place in picoseconds. So what maybe the ...
38 views

How is speed of light constant if it bends? [duplicate]

Gravitational lensing causes light to be bent.If light changes direction how can it be travelling with constant speed?Where am I wrong.Thanks for any help.
18 views

When light changes medium, does it decelerate, or instantaneously change speed? [duplicate]

The velocity of light changes between mediums, but does light specifically decelerate when it enters a denser medium, or is the change is speed instantaneous?
92k views

If photons have no mass, how can they have momentum?

As an explanation of why a large gravitational field (such as a black hole) can bend light, I have heard that light has momentum. This is given as a solution to the problem of only massive objects ...
32k views

How can a photon have no mass and still travel at the speed of light?

I've read a number of the helpful Q&As on photons that mention the mass/mass-less issue. Do I understand correctly that the idea of mass-less (a rest mass of 0) may be just a convention to make ...
70k views

Why does the (relativistic) mass of an object increase when its speed approaches that of light?

I'm reading Nano: The Essentials by T. Pradeep and I came upon this statement in the section explaining the basics of scanning electron microscopy. However, the equation breaks down when the ...
12k views

Accelerating particles to speeds infinitesimally close to the speed of light?

I'm in a freshmen level physics class now, so I don't know much, but something I heard today intrigued me. My TA was talking about how at the research facility he worked at, they were able to ...