this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] spacehulk@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

If they have no mass, how do they push solar sails?

[–] ttayh@lemmy.zip 17 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

They have momentum, but not mass (ignore the other explanation, like yes, E=sqrt(m0^2 c^4 + (pc)^2), but so what? m0=0 for photons)

As you can see, momentum, p, is p=E/c, and we know that the energy for light is proportional to its frequency, f, E=hf (h is Plank's constant). So, p=hf/c. When light is absorbed by a material momentum (and energy) conservation apply and it imparts p onto the object. If light is reflected it imparts 2*p, showing this is left as an exercize to the reader