>>11090397>The electron has been said to have no mass but only a field.>How true is this?Not at all. The electron has a positive rest mass which is always exactly the same number, because 'particles' are stable excitations of various fields. The various quantum fields couple with a certain strength (or scale), and while most combinations of properties are unstable and short lived, some form metastable 'waves' which, when measured by external forces, display apparent properties. For example, the charge of a certain particle is how strongly it couples to the quantum electrodynamic field. In the electron's case, its rest mass is how strongly it is coupled to the Higgs field (any non zero coupling to the Higgs field also causes attrition in the concept we refer to as spacetime, and slows down the particle relative to the standard speed of the Universe, c, meaning all massive particles definitely to not travel at c).
Certain combinations of properties (coupling strengths to the various fields) are stable or metastable. We call them particles, or more correctly, wave-particles.
