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Practice Questions_ Blackbody Radiation

1) Electrons are passed through the parallel


electrodes shown in the figure with a speed of 5.0
 106 m/s. What magnetic field strength and
direction will allow the electrons to pass through
without being deflected? Assume that the
magnetic field is confined to the region between
the electrodes.

Hints: *Combine the crossed – fields experiment of Thomson and the right hand rule to solve the
problem.

*Please recall how the electric field between two parallel plates is linked to the voltage across
them.

2) Considering a blackbody radiation whose surface temperature is ramped (increased)


gradually between RT and say 6000K,
a) give a rough but informative curve peak versus T (in Kelvin)
b) Devise how you can determine the total power intensity being radiated at different
temperatures using the curves of a blackbody radiation at different temperatures given
in Lesson #4 of Cathode rays (slide3).

3) On a clear evening during the winter months, if you happen to be in the Northern
hemisphere and look up at the sky, you can see the constellation Orion. One star in this
constellation (Astronomers call it Rigel) flickers in a blue color and another (that they call
Betelgeuse) has a reddish colour, as shown in the figure (the cartoon man on the right shows
a detailed legend of the left figure).
a) Which one is cooler?

(credit left: modification of


work by Matthew Spinelli,
NASA APOD)

NB: Assume that all those


stars follow the model of a blackbody radiator.

b) Can you now answer confidently the following question (after the solution of 3 a))?
The flame of a peach-scented candle has a yellowish color and the flame of
a Bunsen’s burner in a chemistry lab has a bluish color. Which flame has a higher
temperature?

4) Suppose that two stars, α and β, radiate exactly the same total power. If
the radius of star α is three times that of star β, what is the ratio of the surface
temperatures of these stars?
Which one is hotter?

Hint: Combine Wien’s and Stephan’s laws to solve the problem.

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