science project ... HELP!

[fusion]

I've been considering how I could make science project demonstrating radiation pressure
Should I make a model demonstrating it or just a hypothetical model demonstrating power output and energy could be obtained from it?

Any advice would be nice

[UncleAl]

Start by calculating how much pressure (force/area) you can generate with a reasonable light source. When you know the magnitude of the effect you can design appropriate apparatus around it. What is the advantage of a mirror over a black absorber? Why is a radiometer not a radiation pressure demo?

Google
"radiation pressure" calculation 17,400 hits
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"optical tweezers" 46,700 hits
"optical molasses" 986 hits

[TeleMad]

Originally Posted by fusion

I've been considering how I could make science project demonstrating radiation pressure
Should I make a model demonstrating it or just a hypothetical model demonstrating power output and energy could be obtained from it?

By radiation pressure, I assume you mean the new form of propulsion proposed to make spaceflight more efficient in the future by harnessing the power of the sun's light by capturing the photons in some kind of enormous sail.

Without doing any calculations, I don't think you could create an actual working model that would demonstrate radiation pressure. I doubt that the brightest flood light a normal person could get their hands on would move even a single sheet of single-ply toilet paper via radiation pressure (if the sheet did move, it might be because the light is generating a lot of heat and causing small air currents).

I think you'd have to settle for explaining the principles and manually working your model.

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by fusion

I've been considering how I could make science project demonstrating radiation pressure

You could attempt to build a radiometer like this one. I've seen kits for them in hobby stores in the past.