A New Interpretation on the Non-Newtonian Properties of Particle Mass

It is well known that the mass of a particle has properties different from Newtonian mechanics. First, it is speed-dependent. Second, it is convertible to energy. These properties were generally thought to be derived from the principle of relativity (PR). We have conducted a careful examination of the historical records and found that the non-Newtonian properties of mass were derived not so much based on PR, but more based on Einstein’s intuitive thinking that radiation and matters behave similarly. This gives us a hint: Since both photon and electron can behave as a particle as well as a wave, can such a wave nature account for the deviations from Newtonian mechanics? Thus, we have developed a wave model to describe the motion of a free particle with or without rest mass. We found that both the speed-dependence of mass and the mass-energy equivalence can indeed be derived based on the wave properties of a particle. This wave hypothesis has several advantages; it can naturally explain why particles can be created in the vacuum and why a particle cannot travel faster than the speed of light.