4.If you are looking at two different colors of light, how would the graphs be d

Question

4.If you are looking at two different colors of light, how would the graphs be different for the tow colors? 5.Briefly describe in your own words what this graph or set of graphs is describing pretend you describing the graph to someone outside class who is less familiar than you are with the topic, in other words describe what process occurs or motion occurs to create the graph. 6.Are there any obvious sources of error or uncertainty in the graph? Try to determine sources of uncertainty based on the measurements taken.

Explanation / Answer

1. The graph is the plot of wavelength versus spectral radiance. Since different colours of light have different wavelengths and spectral radiance. So the graph will be different for different light. The graph of red, blue and green light will be different from each other.

2. Stars are of different colours. They can range from blue, white, red and even gold. Cooler stars with spectral type M and K radiate most of their energy in the infrared and red region of the electromagnetic spectrum and thus appears red. Whereas the hot stars with spectral type B and O emit ultraviolet and blue wavelengths and appear blue or white. The graph is the plot of wavelength of light versus spectral radiance. For estimating the surface temperature of a star we should know the relation between temperature of the black body and the wavelength of light where the spectrum of a giver star peaks. As we increase the temperature of the body the peak of spectrum moves towards shorter wavelenghts or blue light whereas it will move towards longer wavelengths or red light as we decrease its temperature. The same is illustrated in the graph.

3. The above method can be used to correctly obtain the star temperature since the stars are not perfect blackbodies. Because of the presence of various elements in the atmosphere of the star it will cause certain wavelengths of light to be absorbed. These absorption lines are not uniformly distributed over the spectrum and hence can skew the position of the spectral peak. So obtaining a usable spectrum for stars is a time consuming process and also inefficient for large samples of stars.

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