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[parent] Electromagnetic Waves: Electromagnetic Momentum, Radiation Pressure, and Photon Momentum - Exercises and Complete Worked Solutions (Example)

Electromagnetic Waves, Antennas, and RF: Electromagnetic Momentum, Radiation Pressure, and Photon Momentum - Exercises and Complete Worked Solutions

EM18 established that electromagnetic fields carry momentum as well as energy. This companion article develops that result through worked problems ranging from local field momentum density to radiation pressure, the Maxwell stress tensor, solar-sail acceleration, photon momentum, and the agreement between classical and quantum momentum accounting.

The central vacuum relations are

|------------------| g = 𝜖0E × B = S-,| ----------------c2--
(1)

|-------∫--------| | | |PEM = g dV, | ----------V------
(2)

and, for a plane wave,

|----------------------| |g = u-, PEM = U-.| -----c--------------c--|
(3)

At normal incidence, the radiation-pressure limits are

|------------------------| | I 2I | |pabs = -, prefl = ---.| --------c-------------c--
(4)

The photon description uses

|----------------------------------| |E γ = hν = hc, p γ = E-γ= h-.| -------------λ-------------c----λ--|
(5)


"Electromagnetic Waves: Electromagnetic Momentum, Radiation Pressure, and Photon Momentum - Exercises and Complete Worked Solutions" is owned by bloftin.
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Other names:  EM18E1
Keywords:  electromagnetic momentum, momentum density, Poynting vector, Maxwell stress tensor, radiation pressure, absorption, reflection, transmission, oblique incidence, solar sail, photon momentum, photon flux, optical force, RF momentum transfer, exercises, worked solutions

This object's parent.

Cross-references: wave, relations, acceleration, tensor, radiation, energy, momentum, fields, EM18

This is version 1 of Electromagnetic Waves: Electromagnetic Momentum, Radiation Pressure, and Photon Momentum - Exercises and Complete Worked Solutions, born on 2026-09-19.
Object id is 1247, canonical name is ElectromagneticWavesElectromagneticMomentumRadiationPressureAndPhotonMomentumExercisesAndCompleteWorkedSolutions.
Accessed 4 times total.

Classification:
Physics Classification: 03.50.De (Classical electromagnetism, Maxwell equations )
 41.20.Jb (Electromagnetic wave propagation; radiowave propagation )
 42.25.Bs (Wave propagation, transmission and absorption radiation interactions with plasma and 52.38-r Laser-plasma interactions-in pla)
 42.50.Ar (Photon statistics and coherence theory)
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