If light has energy but no mass, how can it have momentum?
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Easiest way I can explain it is that even though it has no mass, it still is a particle. Like throwing a balloon at someone still has impact. Balloons are relatively weightless but something it hits will react.
That means your shadow, has negative weight. And satellites in space, are impacted by the sun’s rays of lights pushing it.
Light has the ability to exert a force on things – it can “push” objects. That’s how a solar sail works.
Looking at light as a wave, it has an electric field and a magnetic field. When the electric field hits an object, it causes charged particles (typically electrons) to move from side to side. Then the magnetic field exerts a force on those moving particles, pushing the object in the direction of the light.
And, of course, momentum is conserved. So when a light source emits light, the source gets pushed backwards (we just don’t notice this because things like light bulbs are so heavy compared to the momentum of the light they emit). This momentum is eventually transferred to whatever the light hits. But between the light being emitted and absorbed, that momentum must be somewhere, right? And it is – it’s in the light.
Light has the ability to exert a force on things – it can “push” objects. That’s how a solar sail works.
Looking at light as a wave, it has an electric field and a magnetic field. When the electric field hits an object, it causes charged particles (typically electrons) to move from side to side. Then the magnetic field exerts a force on those moving particles, pushing the object in the direction of the light.
And, of course, momentum is conserved. So when a light source emits light, the source gets pushed backwards (we just don’t notice this because things like light bulbs are so heavy compared to the momentum of the light they emit). This momentum is eventually transferred to whatever the light hits. But between the light being emitted and absorbed, that momentum must be somewhere, right? And it is – it’s in the light.
Light has the ability to exert a force on things – it can “push” objects. That’s how a solar sail works.
Looking at light as a wave, it has an electric field and a magnetic field. When the electric field hits an object, it causes charged particles (typically electrons) to move from side to side. Then the magnetic field exerts a force on those moving particles, pushing the object in the direction of the light.
And, of course, momentum is conserved. So when a light source emits light, the source gets pushed backwards (we just don’t notice this because things like light bulbs are so heavy compared to the momentum of the light they emit). This momentum is eventually transferred to whatever the light hits. But between the light being emitted and absorbed, that momentum must be somewhere, right? And it is – it’s in the light.
Light is like a wave that carries energy and momentum, and photons are like tiny balls that make up the wave. When light hits something, the photons can bump into the thing and transfer some of their energy and momentum to it, like when you throw a ball and it hits something. Even though the photons are very light and can’t be weighed, they still have energy and can make things move.
Light is like a wave that carries energy and momentum, and photons are like tiny balls that make up the wave. When light hits something, the photons can bump into the thing and transfer some of their energy and momentum to it, like when you throw a ball and it hits something. Even though the photons are very light and can’t be weighed, they still have energy and can make things move.
Light is like a wave that carries energy and momentum, and photons are like tiny balls that make up the wave. When light hits something, the photons can bump into the thing and transfer some of their energy and momentum to it, like when you throw a ball and it hits something. Even though the photons are very light and can’t be weighed, they still have energy and can make things move.
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