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15 views4 pages

Tutorial 4

Uploaded by

Sam
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Physics 157 Tutorial 4

Name:
Student number:
Group member names:

In this tutorial, you will get some practice with problems involving radiation. Hints
and useful formulae are at the back.

Question 1: The picture below shows the spectrum of an LED light emitting a
total of 10 W of electromagnetic radiation. The vertical scale is in arbitrary units.
You would like to know how much power the LED emits in the infrared.

The point of this problem is to recognize that the graph shows how the power of
the radiation is distributed between different wavelengths. The fraction of the total
power radiated in a certain wavelength range is equal to the fraction of the area
under the graph that lies in that range of wavelengths. For example, if we want to
know the fraction of power emitted in wavelengths between 600 and 700
nanometers, we could shade in the region between the x-axis and the curve, and
then estimate what fraction of this shaded area is in the vertical strip between 600
and 700 nm. The grid on the graph should be helpful in estimating the area fraction.

Using this method, estimate how much power the LED emits in the infrared. There
is no universally accepted definition of the range of wavelengths considered to be
in the infrared region of the spectrum. However, the most common definition is to
take it to extend from the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum at 700
nanometers (nm) to 1 millimeter (mm). So, in this problem, you should consider
infrared radiation to be the radiation with wavelengths larger than 700 nm. There
is a hint on the last page.
Physics 157 Tutorial 4

Question 2: Star A has half the radius and gives off light with half the peak
wavelength as compared with star B. The total power of radiation produced by star
A (assuming both have emissivity e = 1) is approximately:

a) 1/16 time that of star B


b) 1/8 times that of star B
c) 1/4 time that of star B
d) 1/2 time that of star B
e) equal to that of star B
f) 2 times that of star B
g) 4 time that of star B
h) 8 times that of star B

Question 3: A planet orbiting a nearby star lies at a distance D from that star. The
star has radius R and the planet has radius r, emissivity e = ½, and albedo 0. If the
intensity of radiation from the star at the location of the planet is Is, the equilibrium
surface temperature T of the planet (assumed to be uniform over the surface)
satisfies:

a)  r2 Is = 2  r2  T4
b) 2  D2 Is =  r2  T4
c)  R2 Is = 2  r2  T4
d) 2  R2 Is =  r2  T4
e) 4  r2 Is = 2  r2  T4
f)  r2 Is =  r2  T4
Physics 157 Tutorial 4

Question 4: To drum up support for his


reelection campaign, Donald Trump proposes Wall
to build a spherical wall around the solar
system, just outside the orbit of Neptune (sorry,
Pluto), in order to keep aliens from entering the
United States. Earth
a) What would be the equilibrium temperature
of this wall? There is a hint on the last page.

Useful constants: Sun


Distance from Sun to wall: 5 billion km
Distance from Sun to Earth: 1.5 million km (not to scale)
Intensity of sunlight at Earth: 1.4 kW/m2
ewall = 1 awall = 0 (albedo)

b) What would the temperature of the wall be if the albedo of the wall were 0.5
instead of 0?
Physics 157 Tutorial 4

Useful formulae:

Wien Displacement Law: λmax = b/T where b = 2.9 × 10-3 m∙K.


Stefan-Boltzman Law for power in radiation: H = A e σ T4
Stefan-Boltzman constant: σ = 5.67 x 10-8 W/(m2∙K4)
Intensity is energy per time per area.
Intensity at distance R from a spherical source radiating power H: I = H / (4 π R2)
This means that the ratio of the intensity I2 at distance R2 to the intensity I1 at
distance R1 is: I2 / I1 = (R1 / R2)2

Hint for question 1:


 You can use the squares on the graph as your basic unit of area when
estimating the ratio. It can be helpful to subdivide the squares into smaller
squares!

Hint for question 4:


 You do not need to consider inward radiation from the wall, since this will just
be absorbed by the wall again. You can also ignore incoming radiation from
outside the wall.

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