Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Joe Z
Lv 4
Joe Z asked in Science & MathematicsPhysics · 1 decade ago

How can a photon have velocity if?

It has no temporal velocity? By my understanding of Einstein's four-vector, any particle with a spatial velocity c must have temporal velocity 0. But if temporal velocity is 0, the regular velocity (d/t) must be infinity. So, on a Feynman diagram, a photon should just be a horizontal line (parallel to the x axis, perpendicular to the t axis). But it seems to take a certain amount of time to get between two spatial points. Can someone explain to me how this makes sense?

Update:

but "f", in this case, is a very big number, isn't it?

1 Answer

Relevance
  • Dr. R
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Keep in mind that if you have two functions of x, say, f and g, the ratio f/g does not necessarily approach infinity as x approaches 0 just because g approaches 0 as x approaches 0, as you assume. If f also approaches 0 there too, you have to take the limit using L'Hopital's Rule.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.