Why does gravity bend light if light has no mass?
Light can form a curve if it travels near a big mass. You are right, photons don’t have mass. You are also right, photons doesn’t follow Newton’s gravitation law. Photons can be pulled by gravity not because of their mass (they have none) but because gravity bends space-time.
Why does light have no mass?
Light is composed of photons, which have no mass, so therefore light has no mass and can’t weigh anything. Because photons have energy — and, as Einstein taught us, energy is equal to the mass of a body, multiplied by the speed of light squared.
Does light cause gravity?
Light has energy, energy is equivalent to mass, and mass exerts gravitational force. Thus, light creates gravity, i.e. the bending of space-time.
Does light have gravitational mass?
No. Light has no physical mass. Therefore it is unable to produce its own gravity. However, light is altered by the density of the gravity around it.
Why does light have no mass but has 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).
How much is light affected by gravity?
Answer: The short answer is no, the speed of light is unchanged by gravity. In Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, space and time can be visualized as a four-dimensional construct that gets warped under the influence of gravity.
Is light affected by gravity?
It’s also interesting because there is some sense in which light does have “mass” (and therefore should be influenced by gravity… read on!) In our everyday experience, light seems to travel in straight lines, unaffected by gravity.
Can a particle with 0 mass have zero gravity?
You are right that according to Newton’s gravity, the force of gravity on particle that has 0 mass would be zero, and so gravity should not affect light. In fact, according to Newton’s gravity Black holes should not exist: no matter how strong gravity is, light would always be able to escape!
What is the mass of light?
Light does have a “mass” and its mass is proportional to its frequency. But (as Galileo had shown) acceleration due to gravity was independent of the mass of the object, so all light would be deflected uniformly by gravity. But if you calculate the gravitational acceleration due to Newtonian gravity, you only get half the right value.
Why do photons have no mass?
When photons travel through the region near a massive object that has caused significant warping, they follow curved paths because the space-time through which they are moving is curved. While it is true that photons have no mass, it is also true that we see light bend around sources with high mass due to gravity.