Jump to content

Matter and Mass


Xechs

Recommended Posts

This may be a dumb question but does matter always contain mass? And alternatively, does mass indicate matter? I mainly ask in the case of subatomic particles and black holes. Also in the sense of E=mc^2, anything with energy should have mass? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fundamental fermions gain the property of mass through the Higgs mechanism.
That means electron, quark, and neutrino families.

Any composite particles they make up also have the property of mass, but it is not a strictly linear addition.
As mass and energy can be equivalent properties, altering the configuration of a system can alter the energy, or the mass, of the system.
This is usually seen in terms of binding energies.
As an example, the fermions that constitute the proton/neutron are combinations of 3 up/down quarks, where the mass of the fermions makes up just 2 % of the total mass; the other 98 % is binding energy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/7/2020 at 11:05 AM, Xechs said:

This may be a dumb question but does matter always contain mass? And alternatively, does mass indicate matter? I mainly ask in the case of subatomic particles and black holes. Also in the sense of E=mc^2, anything with energy should have mass? 

Can but not should. Photons for example do not have mass, but can contribute to the mass of a system that they're in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.