METRIC FLIGHT / TOOL 01 / MOMENTUM

VISUAL LABORATORY · EDITION 10

Follow the light.
Calculate the push.

Change the optical inputs and inspect the corresponding momentum transfer. This is a bounded teaching model, not a simulated spacecraft.

CALCULATED / TWO OPTICAL CHANNELS
EXTERNAL INCIDENT LIGHTSURFACEREFLECTED LIGHTTRANSMITTED LIGHTFORCE ON SURFACE+z → along incident beam · +x ↑ · arrows schematic
Reflection 2.00 WTransmission 0.00 WAssumed absorption 0.00 W

EDIT THE OPTICAL MODEL

Forward force, Fz
13.3426 nN
Lateral force, Fx
0.0000 nN
Assumed absorbed power
0.000 W

The ideal mirror transfers twice the incident photon momentum.

Includes inputs, units, assumptions and model version. Calculations run in your browser.

THE ACCOUNTING

The push has a source.

For a stationary surface in vacuum, force follows the rate of incoming minus outgoing photon momentum. This teaching model assumes normal incidence, one reflected order and one transmitted order. The remaining power is assigned to absorption by assumption.

Fx = −P [R sin(θr) + T sin(θt)] / c
Fz = P [1 + R cos(θr) − T cos(θt)] / c
A = 1 − R − T · c = 299,792,458 m/s

The incident direction is +z; +x is upward in the diagram. Reflection angles are measured from −z, transmission angles from +z. Positive angles point toward +x. Input power means power intercepted by the sample.

This is a complete budget only within its two-channel assumption. A real device needs all scattering directions, actual absorption, thermal emission, supports and electrical effects. Unknown optical channels cannot automatically be called heat.

A material model is a starting point. A prediction earns confidence through measurement, controls and independent review.

See the first experiment↗Read the research package↗