The Stefan-Boltzman Law

We say that radiation, regardless of the type, is propagated at the speed of light, 3 x 108 m/s.

Where,

The propagation of thermal radiation takes place in the form of physical quanta, each quantum having an energy of Where h is Planks constant and has a value of:

In 1879 Josef Stefan experimentally observed that the power per unit area of a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature. This same relationship was theoretically derived from Maxwells theory and classical thermodynamics in 1884 by Ludwig Boltzmann and is therefore called the Stefan-Boltzmann law.

By considering radiation as a photon gas, an expression for the energy density of radiation per unit volume and per unit wavelength is derived as

Where u is the energy density (J/m3), k is the Boltzmann constant ( ) and T is the absolute temperature (K). The total energy density (Eb) is obtained by integrating Eq. over all wavelengths.

For an ideal black body, which in reality doesnt exist, given that theoretically they absorb all the energy emitted by radiation that reaches it, the radiation per unit area is proportional to fourth power of the absolute temperature:

is the Stefan-Boltzman constant, which has a value of Therefore,

However, the radiation per unit area for non ideal objects is decreased by factors such as surface composition and color. These contribute to a new emissivity factor, :

The net radiant exchange between two surfaces will be proportional to the difference in absolute temperatures to the fourth power,

Radiation in an enclosure

Inverse Square Law of Heat

Any point source which spreads its influence equally in all directions without a limit to its range will obey the inverse square law. This comes from strictly geometrical considerations. The intensity of the influence at any given radius r is the source strength divided by the area of the sphere. Being strictly geometric in its origin, the inverse square law applies to diverse phenomena. Point sources of gravitational force, electric field, light, sound or radiation obey the inverse square law.

The source is described by a general "source strength" S because there are many ways to characterize a radiation source - by grams of a radioactive isotope, source strength in Curies, etc. For any such description of the source, if you have determined the amount of radiation per unit area reaching 1 meter, then it will be one fourth as much at 2 meters. The lines represent the flux emanating from the source. The total number of flux lines depends on the strength of the source and is constant with increasing distance. A greater density of flux lines (lines per unit area) means a stronger field. The density of flux lines is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source because the surface area of a sphere increases with the square of the radius. Thus the strength of the field is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source.

The inverse-square law generally applies when some force, energy, or other conserved quantity is radiated outward radially in three-dimensional space from a point source. Since the surface area of a sphere (which is 4r2 ) is proportional to the square of the radius, as the emitted radiation gets farther from the source, it is spread out over an area that is increasing in proportion to the square of the distance from the source. Hence, the intensity of radiation passing through any unit area (directly facing the point source) is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the point source. Gauss's law applies to and can be used with any physical quantity that acts in accord to the inversesquare relationship.