The 2018 Physics Nobel Prize: What ARE Optical Tweezers?

For more about the momentum of light see the following blog post: https://atomsandsporks.com/2018/10/08... Other blog posts: https://atomsandsporks.com/ Technical Caveat #1: In our discussion of the ball and box, everything was assumed to happen along a line and the ball was hitting perpendicular to the surface of the box. In the general case where the ball is not hitting straight on (or where light hits a mirror at an angle), only the component of the total momentum PERPENDICULAR to the surface is being reflected. The other component is unchanged.