A powerful laser portrayed in a movie provides a 3-mm-diameter beam of green light with a power of 3 W. A good agent inside a spacecraft aims the laser beam at an enemy astronaut hovering outside. The mass of the enemy astronaut is 120 kg and the spacecraft 185,000 kg. (a) Determine the “radiation-pressure” force exerted on the enemy by the laser beam assuming her suit is perfectly reflecting. (b) If the enemy is 30 m from the spacecraft’s center of mass, estimate the gravitational force the spacecraft exerts on the enemy. (c) Which of the two forces is larger, and by what factor?
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