Abstract
An apparatus for measuring radiation pressure is described which is suitable for demonstration purposes and which may prove to be of value for absolute radiation measurements. It consists of a silver vane torsion balance suspended in a metal case in an atmosphere of air or hydrogen.
Deflections at high vacuum were plotted against readings of a radiometer vacuum gauge. Extrapolaton to zero gas pressure gave a residual deflection corresponding to radiation pressure.
Deflections were independent of pressure, between 20 and 74 cm, for hydrogen and were equal to above residual deflection within the limits of experimental error, one-half per cent.
Errors due to gas forces were much larger for CO2 than for air or hydrogen, and for hydrogen at atmospheric pressure were negligibly small.
© 1925 Optical Society of America
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