College Physics 10th Edition by Raymond Serway,Chris Vuille

Exercise 36

One possible means of achieving space flight is to place a perfectly reflecting aluminized sheet into Earth's orbit and to use the light from the Sun to push this solar sail. Suppose such a sail, of area 6.00 × 10 4 m 2 and mass 6 000 kg, is placed in orbit facing the Sun. (a) What force is exerted on the sail (b) What is the sail's acceleration (c) How long does it take this sail to reach the Moon, 3.84 × 10 8 m away Ignore all gravitational effects and assume a solar intensity of 1 340 W/m 2. Hint: The radiation pressure by a reflected wave is given by 2 (average power per unit area)/ c.