Radiation Pressure - Theory

Theory

It may be shown by electromagnetic theory, by quantum theory, or by thermodynamics, making no assumptions as to the nature of the radiation, that the pressure against a surface exposed in a space traversed by radiation uniformly in all directions is equal to one third of the total radiant energy per unit volume within that space.

Quantitatively, this can be expressed as

,

for a radiation energy density, at a temperature . Here, the radiation constant, where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, and is the speed of light.

Read more about this topic:  Radiation Pressure

Famous quotes containing the word theory:

    Won’t this whole instinct matter bear revision?
    Won’t almost any theory bear revision?
    To err is human, not to, animal.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    Thus the theory of description matters most.
    It is the theory of the word for those
    For whom the word is the making of the world,
    The buzzing world and lisping firmament.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

    ... liberal intellectuals ... tend to have a classical theory of politics, in which the state has a monopoly of power; hoping that those in positions of authority may prove to be enlightened men, wielding power justly, they are natural, if cautious, allies of the “establishment.”
    Susan Sontag (b. 1933)