Chapter 33: Q20P (page 1002)
Radiation from the Sun reaching Earth (just outside the atmosphere) has an intensity of . (a) Assuming that Earth (and its atmosphere) behaves like a flat disk perpendicular to the Sun鈥檚 rays and that all the incident energy is absorbed, calculate the force on Earth due to radiation pressure. (b) For comparison, calculate the force due to the Sun鈥檚 gravitational attraction.
Short Answer
- Force on earth due to the radiation pressure is .
- Force due to the Sun鈥檚 gravitational attraction is .


