Ideally it would be best to use photons provided by natural sources to push the sail. If a star emits ns photons per second uniformly in all directions, with all the photons of frequency fs, enter an expression for the force on the sail if all the photons that strike it are reflected. Assume that the sail has an area A, is located at a distance d from the star’s center, is perpendicular to the incoming photons, and is momentarily at rest with respect to the star. Form your expression in terms of the defined quantities, h (Planck’s constant), and c (the speed of light).  Part (d)  Find the force, in newtons, acting on the starlight driven sail, using the following data for the star and the sail: ns = 2.4 × 1065 photons per second fs = 560 THz A = 202.3 m2 d = 19 × 1011 m

College Physics
11th Edition
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Author:Raymond A. Serway, Chris Vuille
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Chapter1: Units, Trigonometry. And Vectors
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Problem 1CQ: Estimate the order of magnitude of the length, in meters, of each of the following; (a) a mouse, (b)...
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A light sail is a propulsion technique that uses large sails to catch light and propel a vehicle in the vacuum of space. In a particular application, an Earth based laser illuminates such a sail perpendicularly with a beam of light of frequency 560 THz while emitting 2.7 × 1041 photons per second.

Part (a)  If 80% of the emitted photons reach the sail and are absorbed by it, find the resulting force, in newtons, on a sail that is momentarily at rest with respect to the laser. 

 

Part (b)  Now assume the photons are reflected by the sail. Keeping all the other assumptions of part (a), find the force the light beam exerts on the sail, in newtons. 

Part (c)  Ideally it would be best to use photons provided by natural sources to push the sail. If a star emits ns photons per second uniformly in all directions, with all the photons of frequency fs, enter an expression for the force on the sail if all the photons that strike it are reflected. Assume that the sail has an area A, is located at a distance d from the star’s center, is perpendicular to the incoming photons, and is momentarily at rest with respect to the star. Form your expression in terms of the defined quantities, h (Planck’s constant), and c (the speed of light). 

Part (d)  Find the force, in newtons, acting on the starlight driven sail, using the following data for the star and the sail:

ns = 2.4 × 1065 photons per second
fs = 560 THz
A = 202.3 m2
d = 19 × 1011 m

Please answer c and d parts of the problem. Thank you so much!

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