Question by John: PHYSICS PROBLEM HELP?
solar sails—large sheets of material that would work by reflecting photons. Since the momentum of the photon would be reversed, an impulse would be exerted on it by the solar sail, and—by Newton’s Third Law—an impulse would also be exerted on the sail, providing a force. In space near the Earth, about 3.84 x10^21 photons are incident per square meter per second. On average, the momentum of each photon is 1.30 x 10^-27 kg m/s. For a 1325-kg spaceship starting from rest and attached to a square sail 24 m wide. What is the speed of ship in 1s.
The answer from back of book says 4.333 x 10^ -6 but I keep getting 4.92 x 10^ -6. ANYHELP !!!!
Best answer:
Answer by Old Science Guy
we may both be making the same mistake,
but I get your answer, too.
Add your own answer in the comments!
