Some scientists have suggested that spacecraft with sails of the kind described in Conceptual Example 4 could
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(a) Use the impulse-momentum theorem (Section 7.1) to determine the number of photons per second that must strike each square meter of the sail in order to cause an acceleration of 9.8 × 10-6 m/s2, which is one million times smaller than the gravitational acceleration at the earth's surface. Assume that no other forces act on the sail, and that all the incident photons are reflected.
(b) Determine the intensity (power per unit area) that the laser beam must have when it strikes the sail.
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