Re:How to Destroy the Earth (2006)
by s1artibartfast on Saturday February 20, 2021 @08:08PM
(#26209833)
I Im not sure that the mirror has to be at the same temperature as a heat source.
The area of a dyson sphere at earths orbit would be 2.810^23 m^2
The area of the sun is 610^18 m^2.
This is where my understanding of optics and reflections breaks down. How much heat/kinetic energy is transferred to a mirror when it reflects a photon?
From a heat transfer perspective. the dyson sphere has 100,000X the surface area of the sun to radiate heat and 1/100,000 the photon flux hitting it's surface. Based on this I would expect it to be cooler.
This is where my understanding of optics and reflections breaks down. How much heat/kinetic energy is transferred to a mirror when it reflects a photon?
From a heat transfer perspective. the dyson sphere has 100,000X the surface area of the sun to radiate heat and 1/100,000 the photon flux hitting it's surface. Based on this I would expect it to be cooler.