Hotter Is Shorter, and Much Brighter

You'll learnthat heating an object slides its glow toward shorter wavelengths, that the radiated power goes as the fourth power of the kelvin temperature, and that the curve depends on temperature alone.

A stove element tells you both laws before you write either one down: its glow marches from red toward white as it heats, and it gets far brighter than it gets hotter. None of it depends on what the element is made of. Eleven short steps; press Next for each one.

11 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · DOUBLING T HALVES λ · AND MULTIPLIES P BY 16 · v2

doubling T halves λ_max · and multiplies the power by 16 · the material never enters

Before you start

What you're looking at

A glowing object with its temperature and peak wavelength, and a plot of how much it radiates at each wavelength.

The question

Which way does the glow move as it heats, and how much more does it radiate?

Step 1 / 11