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DRIVING A SOLAR SAIL
View larger image | A solar sail gets its momentum from particles of light hitting it and bouncing off. By tilting the sail so the photons hit at different angles, the sail can be made to fall in toward the sun (a shrinking orbit) or travel outward (an expanding orbit). Credit: Adapted by Janel Kiley

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  • Are we still so sure that it is/are particles that transfer the force? Could waves do the same thing in the same way with the same result? Could there be a wave medium or are little billard ball packets of energy and momentum just the easiest to quantify and imagine? I was brought up in the dogma of particle physics but I am starting to have doubts.
    Joel Michello Joel Michello
    Aug. 29, 2011 at 9:26am
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