[Lancey Howard]

Did Einstein ever explain why, of all the various particles flying around the universe, photons are the fastest?

[doc1019]

Did he ever consider that the speed of light was not an historical constant?

[presidio9]

A photon at rest has no mass. They exist in waves as carriers of light energy.

[this_ol_patriot]

Did Einstein ever explain why, of all the various particles flying around the universe, photons are the fastest?

They are like lapsed Catholics, massless.

[MHGinTN]

They’e not just fast. The lose no time at all. No matter how far they travel they arrive in the present of when they left.

[UCANSEE2]

Did Einstein ever explain why, of all the various particles flying around the universe, photons are the fastest?

I agree with Presidio9.

Only particles with NO MASS can be propelled to the speed of light, in 'light' of Einstein's Mathematical Expression.

The less mass a particle has, the closer to the speed of light it can get.

The only question I have, is there some massless particle (or a particle with a negative mass) that can travel faster than the speed of light?

[spunkets]

Photons are the fastest, because they only exist as non-localized electromagnetic energy propagations through the vacuum and never exist as stationary, or slower moving particles. They are simply polarizations, or disturbances of the vacuum as the "particle" moves along and that polarization takes time. Photons are the result of a pure alternating field of zero charge and constant energy/frequency.

Massive particles are energy that is localized in the vacuum and must be given more energy to propagate, or "move". In order for them to propagate through the vacuum, their frequency, which is a measure of their energy must increase from the rest energy/frequency. Once the frequency increases to some value, the particle moves at a constant speed.

The interaction that allows particles to exist as localized entities is called the Higgs mechanism. The Higgs mechanism is an exchange of energy between the vacuum and the particle which allows the particle to have a continued existence. Without the exchange, which is described as the capture of a Higgs boson by the particle, the particle would have no mass and would dissipate. What that means is, that the particle at rest is an energy configuration of the vacuum.