is light tangible?

Question

surely if it reflects off something it must be tangible, which means if there were enough of it its could force things to move.... i know we could never have enough light to do that, but is the theory true?

Answer 1

light is actually made of particles called photons. Like every other, they have mass.
when that mass hits something with certain speed, there is a reaction on that action.
Therefore, you are right you can move things with light (photons)

there were even some plans for a NASA to build a space probe that would rum on the light.
That probe would have the maximum speed the same as the speed of the light. But it would accelerate very, very slowly.
That probe would be sent to distanced regions of space. Only after dozens of years would this propulsion get the speed of a space shuttle, but after that it would become more and more effective. Plus, it doesn't use any fuel.

Hope i helped.

visit www.bedarije.com
click on bolano
open at least 3 files before you close that site
you won't regret

Answer 2

Light is tangible in that it has a physical existence, but it has no mass.

Light could be used to move a spacecraft. Light focused on a gigantic sail would cause the whole craft to gently accelerate. This is not a feasible plan in the atmosphere, because the atmospheric drag effects would dwarf the optical thrust.

Answer 3

Light can move matter. Just think of the experiments the US military have done shooting planes down with lasers. The laser light is so powerful and concentrated that when it hits the plane it physically moves the atoms that the plane is made of as it bores its way through and consequently destroys the plane. The atoms themselves don't get destroyed, Einstein told us matter cannot be destroyed, they just get moved out of the way of the laser light.

Incidentally, the rotating solar 'spinner' thing someone mentioned - the rotation is caused by secondary emission from the coating on the blades, not by the light itself.

Answer 4

Photons do exert force, although not very much. You can buy a solar spinner very cheaply. It has 4 flags spaced evenly in a circle, perpendicular to the center. It is balanced on a sharpened point and the whole thing is inside what looks like a kind of light bulb. Put it in direct sunlight and the flags will spin.

Answer 5

Tangible means `Touchable`. Lene Vestergaard Hau whom succeeded in 1999, + 2001 was to halt beam of light, `Momentarily`. For more info got to Slow light on Wikipedia.

Answer 6

Webster's defines the word "tangible" as follows:
1) that can be touched; that can be felt by touch; having actual form and substance.

2) that can be appraised for value.

3) that can be understood; definite; objective.

If you go with definition (1), can you "touch" light? Can you "feel" light?

If you go with definition (2) can we appraise light? Does it have some quality that we can measure and give value to?

If you go with definition (3) Can we understand light?

If you answer all these questions, I believe that, yes, light is tangible. It can be measured, it can be described, and yes, it can affect changes.

Light is tangible.

Answer 7

Light has relativistic mass and momentum, not rest mass. Solar sails use the photons momentum to create thrust via a large mirror and the conservation of momentum.

Have a look at the link below for more info.

Answer 8

light is made out of photons, but each photon has so little mass that its negligible.
i GUESS if you had a HUGE concentration of light aimed at a black speck of dust in a zero-gravity environment with no atmosphere, it will move.

it has to be black so it absorbs the full force of the light.

Answer 9

never thought about that, but i suppose it must be? good q!

Answer 10

wrong !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

light even has mass

get a really sensitive scale, then just shine a flashlight at it