Physical Transformation AtlasPTA
Phenomenon · phenomenon:radiation-pressure

Radiation pressure

Electromagnetic radiation carries momentum; absorbing or reflecting it exerts a force on matter (2I/c for a perfect mirror at normal incidence), which can do mechanical work — the principle of the solar sail.

Optics and photonicsfirst reported 1901also: photon momentum transfer, light pressure, solar sail thrust

Atlas record: 4 claims reference this phenomenon — 4 established.

Explorerelations · matrix context · routes · sources · cite

4claims3enumerated routes0routes with complete-composition evidence1candidate routes not searched3cited sources

Relations

drives · 1
Incident radiation flux—drives→Radiation pressureestablished
  • radiation absorbed or reflected by a surface; force per unit area I/c absorbed, 2I/c reflected at normal incidence — about 9 µPa in full sunlight
  • mechanical work requires displacement or deformation under the radiation-pressure force; absorbed optical power may additionally thermalise, perfect reflection dissipates nothing
Solar sails (IKAROS 2010, LightSail 2 2019) convert this momentum flux into spacecraft kinetic energy in flight.
produces · 1
Radiation pressure—produces→Mechanical motionestablished
  • the illuminated body is mechanically free or compliant enough to move or deform under the radiation-pressure force
member of · 1
Radiation pressure—member of→Photon momentumestablished
bounded by · 1
Radiation pressure—bounded by→Radiation momentum fluxestablished
  • p = I/c for full absorption and at most 2I/c for perfect reflection at normal incidence; the mechanical power per unit area a surface moving at speed v can take is at most p·v
The bound scopes the coupling by irradiance rather than declaring it impossible: in full sunlight it caps the mechanical power at ≈ 7 × 10⁻⁷ W m⁻² for a surface receding at 0.1 m s⁻¹, so a generator driven by radiation pressure is a micro-scale or high-irradiance proposition.

Matrix context

D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.

D.11 × C.32 · Incident radiation flux × Photon momentum · Established
family: Photon momentum (C.32)

Enumerated routes through this · 3

Cited sources · 3

  1. [1]
    L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, L. P. Pitaevskii. Electrodynamics of Continuous Media (Course of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 8, 2nd ed.) (1984)
    Pergamon · book, no DOI · record
  2. [2]
    E. F. Nichols, G. F. Hull. A Preliminary Communication on the Pressure of Heat and Light Radiation (1901)
    Physical Review (Series I) 13, 307-320 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevSeriesI.13.307 · crossref ✓ 2026-09-20 · record
  3. [3]
    A. C. Trowbridge, E. M. Wright, K. Dholakia. Radiation pressure revisited: historical context and the role of structured light (2025)
    Journal of Optics 27, 075402 · doi:10.1088/2040-8986/ade8fb · crossref ✓ 2026-09-20 · record

Cite this entity

Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). entity phenomenon:radiation-pressure: Radiation pressure. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/phenomenon/radiation-pressure

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