The total electromagnetic power emitted by the sun is 3.8 × 1026 w. what is the radiation pressure on a totally absorbing satellite at the orbit of mercury, which has an orbital radius of 5.8 × 1010 m?

Explanation:

The intensity of the radiation at the location of the satellite is given by:

where

is the power of the emitted radiation

is the area over which the radiation is emitted (the surface of a sphere), with

being the radius of the orbit

Substituting,

Now we can find the pressure of radiation, that for a totally absorbing surface (such as the satellite) is:

where

is the speed of light. Substituting,

the working equation for the angular size is the product of the physical size and 360 degrees divided by the product of two pi and distance from earth. the minimum size would be 0.559 degrees while the maximum size would be 0.49 degrees. 

we need to know the time interval during which the force acts. impulse of force = momentum change