Thermal radiation and energy balance

EasyMedium
123456789101112131415
Question 5
Medium

A student investigates the emission of infrared radiation from different surfaces using a metal Leslie's cube.

The cube is filled with boiling water so that all four vertical faces are at the same temperature.

An infrared detector connected to a millivoltmeter is used to measure the intensity of the radiation emitted from each of the four surfaces. The detector is kept at the same distance from the cube for each measurement.

A diagram showing a four-sided metallic Leslie's cube filled with hot water resting on an insulating mat. Each vertical face has a different surface finish: matt black, shiny black, matt white, and shiny white. An infrared detector is positioned at a fixed distance from one of the faces, connected via leads to a digital millivoltmeter.

The table shows the results of the experiment for three of the surfaces.

Surface finishInfrared detector reading (mV)
Matt black72
Shiny black
Matt white41
Shiny white15

Suggest a possible millivoltmeter reading for the shiny black surface.

[1]

Thermal radiation and energy balance Questions

  1. GCSE
  2. /Physics
  3. /Thermal radiation and energy balance