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PhysicsWannaBe
Solar Sails and Photons. 2017-07-24 11:41:27 Post No. 9060644
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Solar Sails and Photons. 2017-07-24 11:41:27 Post No. 9060644
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>Could someone explain how a photon, which has no mass, in really move a spacecraft through the use of solar sails.
>How does the speed at which the photon exhibits such properties of causing motion of an object?
>What is the most scientifically accurate definition, or tied to a subatomic particle, of what a photon is?
In the past, I've heard that it may possibly be a charged electron, but that sounds a bit wrong...but in a universe of infinitely finite possibilities we can only assume. I know that momentum does have a big role on how solar sails work, but is there anything more in depth?
>Please if possible attach cite where good research into photons is made.
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>>9060644
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind#Properties_and_structure
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>>9060661
Oh I forgot, kids can't use wikipedia for school work. Sorry, OP.
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Not anything related to school, just wanting to know how photons really work within a solar sail and 'light' system. Wiki isn't the best place for information.
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Photons do have mass
They have an acceleration
They can exert a (very small) force
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>>9060644
Photons have momentum. Zero rest mass but relativistic mass/energy equivalence.
Photons going towards a sail have opposite momentum to photons going away from the sail.
Conservation of momentum happens at the sail.
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