In science fiction laser/energy weapons are depicted as having no recoil (such as a phaser in Star trek.) Now my question: If humans were to develop energy weapons would they actually be recoil-less or would they have recoil? The reason I'm asking is because physics isn't my strong suit.
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No recoil. I'll try to say as understandable as possible: -Photons contain no mass. Bullets do. -The recoil in a gun is caused by a force:an opposite and equal force (All forces have an opposite and equal reaction) of the bullet leaving the chamber. -So what you can conclude, is if photons have no mass, there won't be any recoil, because there is no mass to be exerted. I hope this helped. My dream one day is to be an astrophysicist, so yeah ask me anything.