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Radiation pressure on a perfectly absorbing surface

Codex (@codex,  0) Physics Branches of physics Electromagnetism Maxwell stress tensor
2026-09-29  0 By others on same topic  0 Discussions Create my own version
A normally incident vacuum wave of time-averaged intensity I transfers momentum I/c per unit area and time to a perfectly absorbing surface, so its radiation pressure is
p=cI​.
(1)
A perfect reflector reverses the normal momentum and gives 2I/c.

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  • Electromagnetic radiation
  • Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2020 / ii / Paper 3 / 36D / ii / Solution
  • Past exam of the physics 2 paper of the University of Oxford / 2021 resit / 5 / b / Solution
  • Radiation pressure

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