Quantum Physics
Question:
I am particularly interested in quantum physics and how to do the
math. And I have a lot of questions! Like- Since a particles mass
increases as it approaches the speed for light, why doesn't a
photon have infinite mass?
Answer:
Doing the math for quantum mechanics will require you to
understand differential equations and matrix algebra. Some group
theory is also useful once you get past the basics. I am not able
to give you any real shortcuts. You are just going to have to
grind through it using good college level textbooks and lots of
time. If this stuff was easy everybody would be doing it.
Regarding the relativistic mass of the photon. Although
photons exhibit particle like behavior in some experiments, they
do not appear to have the particle like property of rest mass.
The rest mass of a particle is its mass in a reference frame in
which its velocity is zero. One way to think about it is that a
photon has to be traveling at the speed of light in order to have
any mass at all. As soon as you stop it, it disappears.