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I've been recently wondering looking at the disco ball what will happen if I point the laser beam on reflective ball like this one:

and start to spin the ball to the speed of around 80% of the speed of light.

Will in such case reflected photons that hit it get imparted with a lateral change of direction?

Just to be clear, I am not interested in space/time issues due to the speed, but the "contact" and "reflection" positions slightly moved due to the speed (if that's even a case here).

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  • $\begingroup$ What does the geometry look like in a frame where the mirror is at rest? Seems to me it's just similar to a light striking a mirror at a very low angle. $\endgroup$
    – BowlOfRed
    Jan 28, 2017 at 0:54

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Reflection happens because the electrons in the material are vibrating in response to the incoming wave. When the electrons have a very large net velocity, I expect that they will impart a sideways momentum - in other words, if you aim your laser at the ball when it is stationary, and then speed the ball up, the beam will be deflected off to one side.

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