Han, Li-Hsin; Shaomin Wu; J. Christopher Condit; Nate J. Kemp; Thomas E. Milner; Marc D. Feldman; Shaochen Chen (2010). "Light-Powered Micromotor Driven by Geometry-Assisted, Asymmetric Photon-heating and Subsequent Gas Convection". Applied Physics Letters. 96 (21): 213509(1–3). Bibcode: 2010ApPhL..96u3509H. doi: 10.1063/1.3431741. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011.

Another incorrect theory was that the heat on the dark side was causing the material to outgas, which pushed the radiometer around. This was later effectively disproved by both Schuster's experiments [9] (1876) and Lebedev's (1901) [8] Partially correct theory [ edit ]Radiometers are now commonly sold worldwide as a novelty ornament; needing no batteries, but only light to get the vanes to turn. They come in various forms, such as the one pictured, and are often used in science museums to illustrate "radiation pressure" – a scientific principle that they do not in fact demonstrate. Maxwell, J. Clerk (1 January 1879). "On stresses in rarefied gases arising from inequalities of temperature". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 170: 231–256. doi: 10.1098/rstl.1879.0067. Thermodynamic explanation [ edit ] A Crookes radiometer in action with the light switched on and off. (Note that the explanation given in the caption to the clip doesn't agree with the modern explanation.) Movement with absorption [ edit ] Brush, S. G.; Everitt, C. W. F. (1969). "Maxwell, Osborne Reynolds, and the Radiometer". Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences. 1: 105–125. doi: 10.2307/27757296. JSTOR 27757296.

Loeb, Leonard B. (1934) The Kinetic Theory of Gases (2nd Edition);McGraw-Hill Book Company; pp 353–386 It was invented in 1873 by the chemist Sir William Crookes as the by-product of some chemical research. In the course of very accurate quantitative chemical work, he was weighing samples in a partially evacuated chamber to reduce the effect of air currents, and noticed the weighings were disturbed when sunlight shone on the balance. Investigating this effect, he created the device named after him. The air pressure inside the bulb needs to strike a balance between too low and too high. A strong vacuum inside the bulb does not permit motion, because there are not enough air molecules to cause the air currents that propel the vanes and transfer heat to the outside before both sides of each vane reach thermal equilibrium by heat conduction through the vane material. High inside pressure inhibits motion because the temperature differences are not enough to push the vanes through the higher concentration of air: there is too much air resistance for "eddy currents" to occur, and any slight air movement caused by the temperature difference is damped by the higher pressure before the currents can "wrap around" to the other side. [6] Movement with radiation [ edit ] Han, Li-Hsin; Shaomin Wu; J. Christopher Condit; Nate J. Kemp; Thomas E. Milner; Marc D. Feldman; Shaochen Chen (2011). "Light-Powered Micromotor: Design, Fabrication, and Mathematical Modeling". Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems. 20 (2): 487–496. doi: 10.1109/JMEMS.2011.2105249. S2CID 11055498.The Crookes radiometer (also known as a light mill) consists of an airtight glass bulb containing a partial vacuum, with a set of vanes which are mounted on a spindle inside. The vanes rotate when exposed to light, with faster rotation for more intense light, providing a quantitative measurement of electromagnetic radiation intensity. The prefix " radio-" in the title originates from the combining form of Latin radius, a ray: here it refers to electromagnetic radiation. A Crookes radiometer, consistent with the suffix " -meter" in its title, can provide a quantitative measurement of electromagnetic radiation intensity. This can be done, for example, by visual means (e.g., a spinning slotted disk, which functions as a simple stroboscope) without interfering with the measurement itself. Calaprice, Alice; etal. (27 October 2015). An Einstein encyclopedia. Princeton University Press. p.190. ISBN 978-0691141749. a b c Kraftmakher, Yaakov (29 August 2014). Experiments and demonstrations in physics (2ed.). Singapore: World Scientific. p.179. ISBN 9789814434904.

The effect begins to be observed at partial vacuum pressures of several hundred pascals (or several torrs), reaches a peak at around 1 pascal (0.0075 torrs) and has disappeared by the time the vacuum reaches 1 ×10 −4 pascals (7.5 ×10 −7 torrs) ( see explanations note 1). At these very high vacuums the effect of photon radiation pressure on the vanes can be observed in very sensitive apparatus (see Nichols radiometer), but this is insufficient to cause rotation. Crookes, William (1 January 1874). "On Attraction and Repulsion Resulting from Radiation". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 164: 501–527. doi: 10.1098/rstl.1874.0015. S2CID 110306977. . In 2010 researchers at the University of California, Berkeley succeeded in building a nanoscale light mill that works on an entirely different principle to the Crookes radiometer. A gold light mill, only 100 nanometers in diameter, was built and illuminated by laser light that had been tuned. The possibility of doing this had been suggested by the Princeton physicist Richard Beth in 1936. The torque was greatly enhanced by the resonant coupling of the incident light to plasmonic waves in the gold structure. [16] See also [ edit ]Wolfe, David; Larraza, Andres (2016). Alejandro Garcia. "A Horizontal Vane Radiometer: Experiment, Theory, and Simulation". Physics of Fluids. 28 (3): 037103. arXiv: 1512.02590. Bibcode: 2016PhFl...28c7103W. doi: 10.1063/1.4943543. S2CID 119235032. Worrall, J. (1982). "The pressure of light: The strange case of the vacillating 'crucial experiment' ". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. 13 (2): 133–171. Bibcode: 1982SHPSA..13..133W. doi: 10.1016/0039-3681(82)90023-1. US 182172,Crookes, William,"Improvement in Apparatus For Indicating The Intensity of Radiation",published 1876-09-12