Originally Posted By: ImagingGeek

smaller mass. The exact amount of emission is linearly related with surface area, and thus is related to the mass of the object. Keep in mind, black body radiation is


???

Of course mass is "related" to the surface area of an object - but not linearly, and it's related to a whole lot of other properties too, so mass is a pretty useless property for predicting the intensity of radiation of a general object, even a black body.

Quote:

Likewise, the total emittable energy, as in how much energy can be emitted before the black body reaches ambient temperature, is directly proportional to its mass. More mass = more stored heat = more emittable photons.

I think you're going off on a tangent here. Who says it's cooling? Lots of things radiate light without cooling down - like a light bulb!


Last edited by kallog; 07/29/10 01:45 PM.