Practice portal › Electromagnetic Waves › Momentum, Radiation Pressure and Force on a Charge
Asked in GUJCET 2013 · Force and radiation pressure
Given: a 800 W bulb that turns 3% of that into radiation, at the centre of a sphere of diameter 20 m.
Radiated power: P = 0.03×800 = 24 W.
Idea: an electromagnetic wave carries momentum as well as energy. Energy U absorbed brings momentum U/c with it, so a surface absorbing power P receives momentum at the rate P/c, and that rate of change of momentum is the force.
The sphere surrounds the bulb, so every watt the bulb radiates lands on it. The radius does not enter: the intensity falls as 1/(r²) but the area grows as r², and the two cancel.
F = P/c = (24)/(3×10⁸) = 8×10⁻⁸ N.
So the force is 8×10⁻⁸ N. It is the total of the pushes on all parts of the sphere; as vectors those pushes point outwards in every direction and their sum is zero, which is why the question asks only for the magnitude.
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