Questions tagged [radiation-pressure]
The radiation-pressure tag has no usage guidance.
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Understanding radiation pressure
I've been told that the radiation pressure of light can be understood(?) by considering a charged particle as a damped driven harmonic oscillator where the forcing term is the electromagnetic field, ...
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Radiation pressure and specific intensity
In the book Radiative Processes jn Astrophysics (Rybicki, Lightman) a macroscopic radiation theory is described using specific intensity $I_{\nu}$. Then, the following definition for momentum flux is ...
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Does the Parker Solar Probe experience radiation pressure being so close to the sun?
Since the Parker Solar Probe does close fly-bys around the sun, does it experience any significant radiation pressure from photons emitted by the sun?
Is this push, significant enough to require ...
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Confusion in calculating radiation pressure
As mentioned here in wikipedia the net radiation pressure on a perfect reflective surface is $ {2I \over c}$
where $I$ is irradiance and $c$ is the speed of light
In case of a perfect blackbody $I = ...
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Equillibrium Position of Partition
Suppose You have a cylinder with its surface insulated and there is a partition that is free to move. You put a photon gas on both sides of a partition, and You have managed to make the temperature of ...
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If all objects emit IR radiation, would it be sufficient to place an IR mirror behind an object to propel it forward?
I'm assuming objects don't move all the time because they emit IR radiation in all directions. If we have an IR mirror behind the object to focus their direction, would this propel the object forward?
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Calculating pressure and flux tensors in radiative astrophysics
I need to calculate the components of the radiative flux tensor and the pressure tensor, but I am having a little trouble figuring out what the integral should be. The flux is defined as
$$F_v = 4{\pi}...
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Is radiation pressure a doppler effect?
I came to this conclusion for the following reasons (thanks to the people who answered my recent questions):
A photon pushing a mirror(*) loses energy in the form of a red shift (*through radiation ...
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Can a photon increase its frequency by bouncing against a mirror moving toward it?
As discussed in preceding questions, photons can lower their frequency after a reflection happens and radiation pressure sets the mirror in motion.
I wonder if the opposite can happen, i.e. increasing ...
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Is there a way to convert directly most electromagnetic radiation to kinetic energy?
Parent questions:
Do photons lose energy after radiation pressure is applied to a perfect reflector?
Since radiation loses energy to radiation pressure in a reflection, can the entire energy of a ...
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Since radiation loses energy to radiation pressure in a reflection, can the entire energy of a radiation be consumed through multiple reflections?
Parent question here:
Do photons lose energy after radiation pressure is applied to a perfect reflector?
So I have been told that radiation pressure that sets a mirror in motion (e.g. in outer space) ...
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Do photons lose energy after radiation pressure is applied to a perfect reflector?
I was readng Wikipedia article (English one) about radiation pressure because there is something I still cannot figure out. As I understand it, radiation pressure emerges from conservation of momentum....
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Optomechanical interaction
In cavity optomechanics, we see that if one of the mirrors is oscillatory and the other one is fixed,the photons are not able to shift the oscillating mirror continuously in one direction no matter ...
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How to calculate the radiation pressure on a moving surface?
How do I find the radiation pressure exerted on a perfectly reflective flat surface that is moving along the normal of the mirror?
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Cumulative Sun's radiation pressure exerts on Earth's surface
I have some discrepancies in what is in "Optics" (E. Hecht) and what I calculated, but it's simply formula, so I'm confused. I used:
$$F = \frac{\pi R^2 S}{c}$$
to calculate cumulative force of ...
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Conceptual Issue With Radiation Pressure [closed]
Consider a flat, thin, perfectly reflective square mirror of mass $m$ lying on edge on a frictionless, horizontal surface that is met by an electromagnetic wave with Poynting vector parallel to the ...
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Motion of air particles across ultrasound waves
I wanted to know if air particles can cross through (transverse direction) an ultrasound wave or they will start to oscillate in the direction of wave propagation (longitudinal) when they get in ...
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What are all the types of radiation emitting from the Earth or an arbitrary mass in space?
I'm interested in what forces collectively act upon a body in space (obviously radially, so they usually cancel) due to pressures caused by emitted radiation (of any type, strength, "size"). Can you ...
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Can radiation pressure do work, if so does the magnetic field participate?
I understand that the magnetic field cannot do work because the Lorentz force is always perpendicular to the displacement. In my optics book(Hecht Ch3) these equations appear:
Electromagnetic ...
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Acoustic Plane Wave
Consider an ideal fluid which we have a spherical object on it and a progressive plane wave is heading the object. I have a simple question and it is:
If we assume the amplitude of the incident ...
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Have some publications on solar radiation pressure force applied Lambert's Cosine Law incorrectly?
I'm trying to calculate the solar radiation pressure force on a near-earth satellite. Several authoritative sources (books, journal papers) give the force on a partly specular, partly diffusive ...
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Radiation Pressure at oblique incidence
Consider case of absorption
Here the force due to light is given by $F=\frac{IA\cos\theta}{c}$
This force is perpendicular to the surface.
So the pressure due to this force should be $\frac{F}{A}$, ...
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Radiation pressure at a surface which is perfectly refracting
Radiation pressure at perfectly reflecting surface = 2I/c
Radiation pressure at perfectly absorbing surface = I/c
What will be the radiation pressure at a perfectly refracting surface? Will it be ...
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Can light radiation pressure change its own path
Well i have seen that light creates radiation pressure
Can two light waves coming from two different direction change each others path?
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How are solar sails maneuvered by sunlight? Are they pushed or pulled?
On 20 May, 2010, Japan launched IKAROS probe with primary propulsion by a solar sail. If the radiation pressure, that helps the sail to move, comes from the sun, then shouldn't it be pushed away from ...
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How will the Starshot swarm accelerate perfectly?
I was reading about the Breakthrough Initiative Starshot and I a question came to mind.
From my understanding, the "mothership" will focus powerful lasers on each of the tiny ships, accelerating them ...
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Can an atom orbit the Sun?
Is it possible for a molecule or atom to orbit a star (e.g. the Sun)? Or is there always too much outward force imparted by solar radiation compared to the inward force of gravitational attraction?
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Euler-Bernoulli equation for a cantilever strained by a force
I'm trying to model an experiment where a cantilever, fixed at one end, is oscillating under an applied force at the free end. Specifically, I'm focusing a laser on a rectangular cantilever and ...
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Can I close my door with a torch? [duplicate]
Photon pressure is definitely one of the most amazing phenomenon that I have heard in a while.
Some examples:
The pressure from the photons emitted by the Sun can perturb the motion of artificial ...
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why do hypergiants shed mass before death?
I'm reading on this website here and will be using lots of quotes from it.
Hypergiant Star Seen Shedding Mass Ahead Of Explosive Death As Supernova
Astronomers using a telescope in Chile have ...
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Can we use radiation pressure to push/levitate a human?
I want to know, at least in theory, are there any safe em wavelength that could affect human body as net force and do no harm?
To put it bluntly I want to know is it possible for levitate a human on ...
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Angular distribution of scattered photons in laser cooling
I currently prepare for a magneto-optical trap undergrad lab. Radiation pressure comes from the photon's momentum, that is clear. The emission of the photon (some time later) will give another recoil ...
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Radiation pressure applied to different color surfaces
Does the value of radiation pressure exerted by photons from sunlight vary when applied to surfaces of a different color?
More specifically, ranging from pitch black to white surfaces.
Also, is ...
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Can shadows affect gravity?
I was watching a video on Youtube (Vsauce, great channel, check them out), and they were talking about how much a shadow weighs, and he was talking about sails that were pushed by light. He said an ...
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How efficient is the Crookes radiometer?
I remember many years ago, I think at 8th grade, seeing the teacher show us a Crookes radiometer. I remember it being very fascinating. Today I read the wiki article on it, after looking up what it ...
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What the name of the evacuated glass gadget with black and white vanes that turn when a light is applied?
I remember a glass device my physics teacher had at high school which
Contained some vanes mounted somehow on a vertical axis, which were all black on one side and white on the other
Was in a vacuum ...
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