It has been suggested that spacecraft could be powered bythe pressure exerted by sunlight striking a sail. The forceexerted on a surface is the momentum p transferred to thesurface per second. Assume that photons of 6000 Å lightstrike the sail perpendicularly. How many must be reflectedper second by 1 cm2 of surface to produce a pressure of 10-6 atm?

College Physics
11th Edition
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Author:Raymond A. Serway, Chris Vuille
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Chapter1: Units, Trigonometry. And Vectors
Section: Chapter Questions
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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It has been suggested that spacecraft could be powered by
the pressure exerted by sunlight striking a sail. The force
exerted on a surface is the momentum p transferred to the
surface per second. Assume that photons of 6000 Å light
strike the sail perpendicularly. How many must be reflected
per second by 1 cm2 of surface to produce a pressure of 10-6 atm?

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