LIGHT CAN SLOW AN ORBIT:

LIGHT CAN SLOW AN ORBIT: Let me show you how strange light really is. Take a grain of dust orbiting the Sun. Gravity is holding it in orbit while sunlight is constantly hitting it. Now here’s the part most people don’t know..light carries momentum. Because that dust grain is moving, the sunlight doesn’t hit it perfectly straight. The radiation produces a tiny drag against the grain’s motion. Every orbit, it loses a little angular momentum. Not enough to notice right away. Over time, though, the orbit gets smaller and the dust slowly spirals toward the Sun. Physicists call this Poynting–Robertson drag. I know that sounds backward because radiation pressure can also push matter away from the Sun. Both are true. Very small particles can get blown outward, while larger dust grains can lose momentum and drift inward. The effect is weak, but space gives weak forces a lot of time to work. That’s why scientists account for it when studying interplanetary dust, debris disks and the zodiacal cloud. Gravity controls the orbit, but radiation can slowly change it. Think about what that means. Sunlight isn’t just brightness traveling through empty space. It arrives carrying energy and momentum, and even a tiny grain of dust has to answer to it. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Psalm 19:1 KJV #MoreJoyMinistries