If light has momentum, the why don’t we get pushed around by it?
I went outside on a sunny day and I only got a sun burn but I wasn’t thrown around
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answers:
John say: Weeeelll actually your 'burn' WAS caused by that 'momenteum' and you WERE 'pushed around by the sunlights momenteum'.
Sorry dude. Physics will get you every time.
Tell me why you think a two watt solar panel can keep a lead acid battery rated at about a thousand watts charged?
Don't you think you need a thousand watt charger for a thousand watt battery?
Well no, not if you live and breathe 'automotive'! Yer **** don't stink and the law especially the laws of physics don't apply.
Only the law of transference from everyone else's wallet to your own.
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Jeffrey K say: We do get pushed by sunlight. But its momentum is so small that we don't feel it.
There is a toy pinwheel inside a glass bulb that has tin foil panels, half of them black and half of them white. When it is in sunlight, the absorption and reflection of light makes it spin. This is using the momentum of sunlight.
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Twitch say: Because it's light.
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vorenhutz say: it's small. it's enough to push some asteroids around, though.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/7...
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Ronald 7 say: Light itself has no Mass
It therefore has no force
It is the Ultra Violet Radiation that carries a force
And could be used in Solar Sails
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goring say: Momentum has no meaning Unless there is Power in space that causes a massive particle of light to move.We are held together as one lumped mass by the gravity power that exists in space.Its vely vely simple
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YKhan say: It's way too small for you to feel. Not even as much force as the wind on a perfectly still day.
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billrussell42 say: there is a tiny pressure from the sunlight, but too small for you to feel, and probably too small to measure except with the most expensive instrumentation.
number, for a perfect reflector, is 9 µN/m²
assuming 1 m² for your body, 9 µN, converting, is about 30 millionths of a US ounce. That's if you are dressed in aluminum foil. Otherwise cut that number in half.
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G. Whilikers say: Because mass has inertia.
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rick29148 say: very small amount .........................
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Climate Realist say: It's momentum is small.
Solar sails would make use of the momentum that light has.
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Neck Stowers say: It doesn't like you
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james say: You are doing the experiment wrong. Or with the wrong equipment if you do not think the sun can drop you. Lab =s 1bar. Equipment needed. 1 Colonial. 1 colonial need 1shot rum, 1 slice vanila icecream, 1scoop tropical fruit well aged in rum. Repeat & build 3 to 4 stacks high in tall glass. Control conditions. enter lad at noon on a hot sunny tropical day. Build equipment up, consume, set back outside from cool lab into tropical sun. The sun can drop you with its force. If not return to lab & repeat experiment.
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CarolOklaNola say: Several reasons. 1) People are not 99% reflective.
2) People are not flat and planar.
3) People do not have enough surface area
4) People have too much mass.
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wobafetty say: If it can collide with something it has force. Usually its solids that cause the most force, followed by liquids, then gasses, then you can get lighter... no pun intended.
Asteroids traveling at speeds of 20000 mph can pretty much cause a world wide extinction even if only a mile in diameter. Imagine if it was possible a solid could travel at the speed of light... it couldn't.. but imagine. Light weighs less than gas though is one if not the fastest thing in existence. It's sheer speed still allows it to create an impact. You getting sun burn proves it impacted you.
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Nikki say: the "force" of the light from a galaxy, even from entire galaxies, is not enough to overcome the 'strong" gravitational forces of mass.
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ReductioAdAstronomicus say: Obviously it's momentum is very small. Doh!
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jehen say: Light indeed has momentum and light exerts pressure onto things it hits. In fact a light sail is a proven propulsion system for space craft. But not a very speedy one or all that useful for fine maneuvering.
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cosmo say: Because it's a small amount of momentum.
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Lôn say: It hasn't got momentum.
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