Moving nitrogen molecues

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Hi!,

I have been trawling the net for a several hours and would appreciate any help.

 

Is it possible to physically move nitrogen molecules (in gaseous form) using Electromagnetic radiation?

 

What I have learnt so far:

 

1. EM waves carry energy, have momentum and exert radiation pressure on any object absorbing them. This absorption depends on the how heavy the atom is ....

 

2. This pressure is proportional to the amount of power carried by the EM radiation per unit area.

 

3. The size of nitrogen molecules is .3 nm (.15 per atom) and they would absorb EMR of commensurate wave length.

 

4. This wave length falls in the Xray portion of the EM spectrum From 10^9 GHz

 

5. Photoelectric effect: When Xrays from the sun fall on the atmosphere they knock out an electron from the nitrogen atom to absorb the energy....

Clarification: Does this mean that the nitrogen gets more energy and hence moves faster ... Effectively like heating the gas ...

 

My postulation is :

 

If we had a container full of nitrogen gas and we bombarded it with Xrays of a commensurate frequency, the nitrogen molecules would absorb the energy and be

a) Pushed away from the direction of the Xray ... i.e. move away from the source of the EM

Or

b) Absorb the energy but still move in a random gaseous manner but faster than before; hence exerting more pressure on the walls

Or

c)The energy of the Xrays will simply knock electrons out of the nitrogen atoms (photoelectric effect) making them +ively charged for a while but will not have either effect (a) or (b)