So here is the question, does light have mass? Visible light is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength falls within the range of which the human retina responds. Light consists of energy quanta called photons that behave partly like waves and partly like particles.
So gravity affects things with mass correct? Black holes have such extreme gravity that not even light can escape. If it was energy without mass, then the gravitational pull of a black hole would have no effect. You don’t actually see an object, you see the visible light hitting it.
Isn’t light just a byproduct of something else? Just like heat, light is a byproduct of fire. Have there been experiments in no matter the source of the illumination, does the light have the same properties? Might the sun and a campfire emit light at a different speed? What about a light bulb? Or are the properties of light universal no matter the source or emitter?
And it must have mass otherwise it would pass through objects rather than hit them and illuminate them. If it exists as particles can other forces outside of gravity affect it? Granted it moves at an exceptional high speed, so wind wouldn’t have too much of an effect. But does it? The speed of light is calculated in a vacuum, what about in atmosphere? Does air resistance slow the speed of light, even just a little, when it enters our atmosphere? And what effect would a greater planetary gravity have? Does the visible spectrum change when atmosphere and gravity is changed?
So even if we can’t measure something that small it must have mass right? It seems like this is one if the things we just know. Like gravity. So since it is so simple and well known, there are no new experiments in the area. Also since the subtleties of it are so difficult, sometimes impossible, to measure that there is no way to reach answers that can be proven.
Just more stuff in my head. Let me know what you think.
