Re:Photons cooled down to room temperature, made into a blob...
by alecst on Wednesday November 24, 2010 @09:13PM
(#1939129)
Photons have momentum. But is it not misleading to say that they have mass? You also say that E and m are just different words for the same property. This, I believe, is not fair. E (J) differs from m (kg) by a conversion factor of c (m/s) ^2. To give an analogy, I think it would be misleading to say that an electric field E(r) is a different word for some charge Q, because without one you cannot have the other, and they only differ by some conversion factor. Could you explain a little bit more thoroughly what you mean?
As a comparison, atomic nuclei are composed of particles with non-zero rest mass, and they tend to have less mass than the sum of their components because of their stability. The difference between the mass of the nuclei and its components is how much energy you have to dump into the nuclei to split it (plus enough kinetic energy so that they fly away before they reform).
As to the question of what constitutes "matter"... I'm not sure that's actually defined in a way that's 100% free of contention. My personal opinion would by any configuration of particles that's stable. This new stuff could qualify.