Chapter Questions
What is the temperature range for objects whose wavelength at maximum falls within the visible spectrum?
A lightbulb radiates most strongly at a wavelength of about 3000 nanometers. How hot is its filament?
How hot would a source need to be to emit its maximum radiation in the FM range of the radio dial (100 MHz)? Why don't common objects interfere with our radio reception?
The Earth's temperature averaged over the year is about 300 Kelvin. At what wavelength does it radiate most strongly? What part of the electromagnetic spectrum does this wavelength lie in? Can you see it?
If a lightbulb filament could be heated to $10,000 \mathrm{K},$ how much more thermal radiation would it produce than if it were at $2500 \mathrm{K} ?$
The total light an object emits depends on its temperature and its surface area. How large would a star with a surface temperature of $3000 \mathrm{K}$ need to be to have the same luminosity as a star with a surface temperature of $6000 \mathrm{K} ?$ (Please answer in terms of the size of the 6000 -K star.