Open AccessA determination of the radiation constant
Author(s) -
H. B. Keene
Publication year - 1913
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1913.0005
Subject(s) - radiator (engine cooling) , radiation , absolute zero , constant (computer programming) , physics , boltzmann constant , optics , atomic physics , thermodynamics , computer science , programming language
According to the Stefan-Boltzmann law, the radiation emitted by a full radiator is surroundings at a temperature of absolute zero is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature of the radiator, or R =σθ 4 , where R = radiation in ergs per cm2 . per sec.,θ = absolute temperature of radiator,σ = radiation constant. If the radiator is in surroundings at absolute temperatureθ 1 , which are themselves full radiators, then R´ = Rθ -Rθ 1= σ(θ 4 -θ 1 4 ), where R´ is the net radiation. The first important determination of the radiation constant is due to Kurlbaum, who obtained a value 5·33 × 10-5 erg/sec. cm.2 deg.4 , recently corrected to 5·45 × 10-5 erg/sec. cm.2 deg.4 Later investigations give results varying considerably from Kurlbaum's and from one another, and, on the whole, they indicate that Kurlbaum's value is too low. Some determinations are given in the following table:—