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by gammateam
2679 days ago
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This was an amazing deduction. I dont understand the key component of the article about the radiation from the sun giving it a boost. These scientists were able to make all these deductions about its shape and why from this, but what? How does radiation propel in any circumstance? Are we saying molecules change composition? Electrons moving to another state? What |
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It depends on the type of radiation, but two mechanisms jump to mind for me:
The first is direct action of photons, as in a Crookes radiometer. The idea is that the black and white sides of the vanes respond to different types of EM radiation differently. How it actually works is somewhat beyond me (and apparently contentious), but it does work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_radiometer
The second is is through boiling. If the side of the object facing the sun were composed of a material that boiled when exposed to sunlight, the boiling off of that material would provide thrust against the object in the same way a rocket provides thrust (by expelling gas).
Note that I am not a physicist, and am not proposing that either of these are the reason for the object's anomalous trajectory - just throwing out two ideas through which radiation could propel an object.