Module 2: Basic Surgical Skills

tail by sunlight. We cannot use F = ma to describe this process,since we are dealing with a collision of light with matter, whereasNewton’s laws only apply to matter. The equation F = dp/ dt, onthe other hand, allows us to find the force experienced by an atom ofgas in the comet’s tail if we know the rate at which the momentumvectors of light rays are being turned around by reflection from theatom.Section 14.6∫Applications of calculus 373