I understand that it’s impossible to bring a photon to a state of rest, therefore impossible to collect them into a cup to weigh them and calculate their mass. A guy in a pub explained to me, quite smugly, that photons are just expressions of energy and that’s that. From my understanding solar sails would be just large surface areas being hit by photons, pushing the spacecraft in a desired direction, just like normal ship sails are being pushed by wind. But air particles do have mass. How could photons push the spacecraft if they don’t weigh anything?
In: Physics
Solar sails are designed to use radiation pressure to pull a space craft through space by reflecting radiation from the Sun or another source back to where it came from the solar sail can power a craft either round our own solar system or even to another star. https://youtu.be/0sHNaXE-aco
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