need a reference

from Sins Forums
ok, this is completely out of the blue. but I want to read up on some theoretical material.

specifically I'm looking on a book (probably outdated) that would describe a universe under the effects of light with an almost infinitely small mass. Most importantly I need it to describe why the THEOREY FAILED.
current relativity says light has NO mass, which is fine by me. but I've yet to find any reason as to why this would be, so I'd like to read up on the topic

yes, this is a shot in the dark, but I'm hoping maybe it'll turn up something.
off-topic
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Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Light can't have mass because relativity says that to accelerate any amount of mass to the speed of light would require an infinite amount of energy... and since light only goes the speed of light, well, you get the idea.

Have you read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking? I can't remember if that topic is explicitly addressed in there but that is a great book for discussions of that kind of physics.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Light can't have mass because relativity says that to accelerate any amount of mass to the speed of light would require an infinite amount of energy

yes, but this has been only confirmed by very brute-force measurements.

say for instance the ultimate limit was minutely beyond that of light, light could therefore theoretically still have mass, but it would be so hard to detect when not moving (relatively) that we wouldnt be able to observe it.

the "light moves fast as light" idea is redundant, the point in question here is if light would be the absolute limit.

whats especially important about this is that if the mass is small enough the particle would take on the dual properties of light that we currently see (we already see this sort of mass-energy duality in electrons, which are mighty small)

you have to understand, I'm not proposing any new theory, I just want to find out why.
Have you read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking? I can't remember if that topic is explicitly addressed in there but that is a great book for discussions of that kind of physics.


I'll check it out, thanks
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Interesting.

Well i know little of this subject, but i do think that light might have mass, since light is both energy and matter.