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Glite Dictionary
massless

massless

2 7.4
Something that has no weight, for example a light particle
  • adjective
  • /ˈmæs.ləs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sin masa
  • Photons are unique because they are massless particles that travel at the speed of light.
  • massless particles
  • massless neutrinos
  • massless photons

That's because of the photon is massless and it travels at the speed of light.

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Examples

  • The most familiar form of energy is the photon, a massless, irreducible particle of light.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Wigner's analysis made it clear that massless spinning particles are fundamentally different from massive particles.

    Academic text (1995)

  • And suppose there is nothing left but massless things, photons.

  • They were all massless, and they were all moving with the speed of light.

    Sabine Hossenfelder

  • You can't make a massless particle stand still.

  • Neutrino is a near massless particle that goes at close or beyond the speed of light.

    Shawn Ryan Show

  • Imagine we have a thin, rigid, massless disk centered in our coordinate system.

  • The standard model assumes, for simplicity, that all neutrino types are massless and therefore cannot metamorphose into one another.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Nearly massless quarks bind together by exchanging exactly massless gluons.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Theorists had predicted that massless (or nearly massless) neutrino particles would be ejected at the time of a supernova explosion.

    Academic text (1990)

Synonyms

weightless
vsmassless
17 5.3

Having almost no weight, often because there is no gravity

means having literally no mass or measurable weight

Antonyms

massive
236 3.1

Very large and heavy

heavy
220 1.0

Full of a large amount of something and bending under it

How Heavy

massive
236 3.1
heavy
220 1.0
light
12 7.0
massless
  • Specialized
2 7.4

Surface Forms

massless positive

Morphology

massless = mass (transparent) = mass + less

Derivation is the straightforward combination of the noun 'mass' with '-less' meaning 'without', giving 'without mass'.

Etymology

Massless is made of the word mass (meaning 'amount of matter or weight') and the part -less ('without'), so it literally means 'without mass'. That's why in physics a massless particle has no measurable weight and can travel at the speed of light.