Activity: Thermal radiation at twice the temperature

Contemporary Challenges 2021 (5 years)
This small group activity has students reasoning about how the Planck distribution shifts when the temperature is doubled. This leads to a qualitative argument for the Stefan-Boltzmann law.
  • Media
    • activity_media/stefan-boltzmann-poll-solution.png
This small whiteboard question introduces the Stefan-Boltzmann law.
Question:
When the temperature of a black surface is doubled, what happens to the total energy emitted per unit time?
  1. Increase by 2 times
  2. Increase by 4 times
  3. Increase by 8 times
  4. Increase by 16 times

Keywords
Stefan-Boltzmann blackbody radiation
Learning Outcomes