Re: Crooke's Radiometer

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

On Tue, 6 Apr 1999, Otto G. Raabe wrote:

> April 6, 1999
> Davis, CA
> 
> Maybe it is called a radiometer because (1) it responds to electromagnetic
> radiation in the form of light and especially infrared radiation, and (2)
> it was named before the discovery of ionizing radiation.

	-I would bet that it was meant as a demonstration of radiation
pressure, the fact that radiation has momentum, and sometime later
somebody noticed that the rotation was in the wrong direction for that
explanation.

> 
Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu


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