Question

The sun has a mass of 1.99 x 10³⁰ kg and a radiation power of 3.9 x 10²⁶ Watts. What is the maximum solar radiation force (in N) on a perfectly reflecting square piece of foil with sides of length L = 1 meter located one million miles from the sun (Note: 1 mile = 1,609 meters)?

Answer 1

The intensity of the solar radiation a distance R from the sun is given by

and the radiation force for total reflection (normal to the surface) is