Table of Contents
Does photon energy affect speed?
The energy of a photon is not related to its speed because photons are massless. Increasing the energy of a photon will increase its momentum however. The momentum of a photon is equal to Planck’s constant divided by the wavelength of a the photon.
Can a photon have zero frequency?
“E = hf” means the photon has zero frequency and infinite wavelength.
What happens if a photon loses all its energy?
the energy and momentum of the photon is transferred to the electron and a new photon of lower energy appears. It cannot be completely absorbed because energy and momentum conservation would be violated, as the answer of @Chris says.
Do photons ever move slower than the speed of light?
A team of Scottish scientists has made light travel slower than the speed of light. They sent photons – individual particles of light – through a special mask. It changed the photons’ shape – and slowed them to less than light speed.
Does a photon always travel at the speed of light?
Through the vacuum of space, no matter what their energy is, they always travel at the speed of light. The highest-energy photon and the lowest-energy photon ever observed both travel at exactly the same speed.
How can a photon have a frequency?
Each photon has a wavelength and a frequency. The wavelength is defined as the distance between two peaks of the electric field with the same vector. The frequency of a photon is defined as how many wavelengths a photon propagates each second.
Can a photon have any energy?
Since photons (particles of light) have no mass, they must obey E = pc and therefore get all of their energy from their momentum. If a particle has no mass (m = 0) and is at rest (p = 0), then the total energy is zero (E = 0).
Can a photon change frequency?
The photon remains intact – that means only its frequency changes. A process that consumes one photon and produces another at a different frequency.
Can a photon lose energy?
A photon doesn’t lose energy unless it collides with a particle. Photons carry energy, but they don’t lose energy just because they travel. The key to understanding the dilemma of a red-shifted photon is that not all observers will measure the same energy of the photon.
Can photons stop moving?
Photons move at the speed of light because they have no inherent mass to slow them down. Because they have no inherent mass, they can’t really be stopped per-se, because a photon that wasn’t moving would have no basis to even exist – really all a photon is depends on its movement.
Can light be slowed down to zero?
In a vacuum like space, the speed of light is just over 186,280 miles per second. Scientists have now shown it’s possible to slow it down to zero miles per second without sacrificing its brightness, regardless of its frequency or bandwidth.