Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.

Does light has any weight? - "Mass of light."

Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.
Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.


Everything that exists in this world has weight, whether it is a tiny particle of sand or huge elephant. You can hardly think of any physical object which is weightless. But did you ever wonder if the light has any weight or not? If yes, then this article belongs to you.
First of all, you need to understand what weight actually is? In physics, weight is defined as the product of mass and acceleration. Where mass is the amount of matter present in any object and acceleration is the value of acceleration due to the gravity of earth with which earth keep pushing any object onto its surface. 
Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.
Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.

In simple terms, weight is the force that we feel while gravity is pushing us on earth's surface. Thus according to this scheme weight of an object can be zero in only two ways i.e. either it has zero mass or acceleration is zero. Now since mass can't be zero as massless object can't exist so if weight is zero then acceleration must be zero. For example, in space there is no gravity, so we feel weightless in space. 
Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.
Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.

   
Now let's come to our main concern i.e. if the light has any weight. Now before proceeding next, I want to tell you that light doesn't have any mass. Yes....you read it right that light doesn't have any mass. It is due to the fact that light consists of very tiny particles known as photons, which are massless i.e. it has completely zero mass. Photon is the building block of light similar to electron-proton that are building the block of general matter. This light has zero mass in whole so it is weightless according to our definition of weight.
Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.
Does light has any weight? - Mass of light.
Although light individually has no weight it can still increase the weight of any object on which it falls by a tiny amount. Now the question may arise in your mind that how a weightless thing can increase the weight of any object. 

For this you need to learn that mass and energy are interchangeable i.e. mass can be converted to energy and vice-versa. Since light is a form of energy so when this light falls on any object it transmits a little amount of energy to that object and thus increases its mass. But of course that increased mass will be too difficult to notice or measure but still, it is there. So the conclusion is this that light itself contains no weight or mass but when it falls or interact with any physical object it transmits its energy in the form of mass to that object.

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                       Do you know the city of Chicago weighs approximately 150kg more in daylight than night time as in daytime sunlight keep falling on it. And of course the same is true to your city where increased weight may be different but it always increases.

Thanks for reading our post Does light has any weight? - Mass of light. Hope you gain your knowledge about this topic and you learn an interesting topic about the mass of light.




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