Laser, graphene, propulsion

Jun 13, 2015 43 Replies

It must be a momentum transfer problem and the graphene sponge extremely light. The height variation coming from beam divergence.

The question comes down to how good is their vacuum as to whether it is the momentum of reflected photons or air pressure on the hot side. The latter being the strong effect which powers toy radiometers.

The electrons ejected would leave the puck positively charged and attract it. If the thing works as described then it is either radiation pressure acting on a lightweight structure or more likely gas pressure depending on just how good their vacuum actually was.

Basically it is a very crude Crooke's radiometer with graphene sails.

If their laser power is extreme enough it could be surface ablation too.

Almost certainly. Separating electrical charge invariably creates an attraction between the positive and negatively charged components.

Regards, Martin Brown

Keep it up, maybe you can tie a link with this to Casimir and Polder ..

:)

Jamie

Hi,

This paper explains the Casimir force as interactions between charged particles in the plates:

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Possible interpretation:

Electric field intensity in each plate has a certain noise or uncertainty, and as the plates are drawn closer then the capacitive attractive force increases, so the plates are always charged at different voltages via their uncertainty in voltage, to explain the Casimir force?

Next: relate it to van der Waals forces"?

cheers, Jamie

Opps that is from the article:

"The Casimir force is simply the (relativistic, retarded) van der Waals force between the metal plates."

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