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Can a solar reflector accelerate free electrons to near C?
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Sure it can, BUT
Thermodynamics
You cannot collect more solar energy then the sun radiates, and while this is a nontrivial amount it is not that huge. You can use a small amount of energy to accelerate A SMALL NUMBER of electrons to relativistic velocities, but this number will be extremely low and produce essentially no thrust.
In order to make a large number of electrons travel near the speed of light, the size of the collector will have to be INSANE, like hundreds or thousands of square kilometers... Plus the further you get from the sun, the lower your thrust.
Oh, and on the return trip the reflector will act as a solar sail to some extent and try push your vehicle out of the solar system, decreasing speed the closer you get back to Earth.
And one final though, you MUST expel somthing positively charged when you fire electrons (or any negativly charged species) out the back in order to maintain vehicle charge balence. So even though the electrons are light weight, this charge balence "fuel" is not.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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Can the accelerated electrons split an atom?
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No.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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