High School Effects of a moving mirror on a ray of light

  • #31
yrjosmiel said:
So far, after taking into account the contraction of the distance of the light source and the wall, I concluded that there is indeed no difference in where the laser dot will land on the wall.

If I do have any remaining questions: should I do an experiment to confirm this conclusion or would that be a waste of time and resources?
This open-access paper presents some relevant considerations:
Classical dynamics of a moving mirror due to radiation pressure
 
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  • #32
reflection rule is in approxation that mirror is massive enough. Compton effect should be active for high energy photon and mirror.
 
  • #33
My understanding that the speed of light is slower in a medium is not because the light actually travels at a slower speed, but because the light interacts with the various particles of the medium which takes time. doesn't the mirror absorb the light than readmit it? wouldn't the mirror have at least traveled a short distance during this time? Wouldn't this cause the dot to be slightly lower?
 
  • #34
Justin Hunt said:
My understanding that the speed of light is slower in a medium is not because the light actually travels at a slower speed, but because the light interacts with the various particles of the medium which takes time. doesn't the mirror absorb the light than readmit it? wouldn't the mirror have at least traveled a short distance during this time? Wouldn't this cause the dot to be slightly lower?
The initial question and all the answers have been assuming an ideal mirror, one that is of zero thickness and reflects 100% of the incident light.
 

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