Eeot Tronsport by RoJiotion - Hoy 2010 1

Heat Transport by Radiation

PurposeJUb|ective: To peifoim an expeiiment to show the uiffeience between
iauiative heat tianspoit vs. conuuctive heat tianspoit.

Background: Theimal eneigy is the eneigy that is associateu with the motion of the
paiticles (molecules, atoms, piotons, neutions, etc. ) that make up any object. As
moie theimal eneigy is auueu, the paiticles move fastei. When theimal eneigy is
tianspoiteu, it is calleu heat. Theie aie thiee ways that heat can be tianspoiteu:
convection, conuuction, anu iauiation.

ConJuction is the piocess wheie the iapiuly moving paiticles in an object tiansfei
theii iapiu motion to neaiby paiticles thiough collisions between the paiticles. This
happens when you touch youi hanu to a hot plate. 0i how eggs cook in a pan wheie
the heat fiom the stove gets tiansfeiieu thiough the pan to the eggs. Conuuction
also occuis when you tiy to lick a flagpole in the winteitime in Ninnesota; the watei
molecules fiom youi tongue tiansfei theii heat to the metal in the pole anu the
watei fieezes onto the pole sticking youi tongue to the pole with the fiozen watei.

RoJiotion is heat tianspoit by light. All objects in the 0niveise emit light because of
the motion of the paiticles that make up those objects. The coluei the object, the
longei the wavelength of light it emits. The waimei the object, the shoitei the
wavelength of light it emits. 0ui sun is at S7uu Kelvin, anu emits most of its light at
visible wavelengths. Bumans, on the othei hanu, aie much coolei (aiounu S1u
Kelvin), anu we emit light at much longei wavelengths, in the infiaieu pait of the
spectium. In oui eveiy uay lives, we see this effect of heat tiansfei by iauiation
when we tuin on an incanuescent light bulb wheie a metal filament (usually
tungsten) is heateu to a high tempeiatuie to the point wheie it emits visible light; if
you place youi hanu to the siue of the bulb, you will feel the heat coming fiom it
because the light is caiiying that heat fiom the hot metal to youi hanu anu making
the paiticles in youi hanu move fastei. (Bo you feel this heat when placing youi
hanu neai a floiescent bulb, oi an LEB bulb. Why uo you think those bulbs aie
auveitiseu as using less eneigy.)

Convection is the piocess wheie something that has theimal eneigy caiiies that
eneigy to a new location. Two classic examples aie (a) when aii is heateu neai
asphalt anu it becomes less uense anu iises oi when aii cools anu sinks, oi (b)
boiling watei wheie watei that is heateu at the bottom of a bowl iises anu biings
heateu watei to the suiface. This expeiiment will not be uealing with convection.

In this expeiiment we will be piimaiily conceineu by the tianspoit of heat by
iauiation anu how it uiffeis fiom conuuction. Also we will be conceineu with how
uiffeient colois have uiffeient efficiencies in absoibing anu emitting heat by
iauiation. Baik colois absoib iauiation anu heat up much moie efficiently than light
colois. That is the ieason that we tenu to weai uaikei colois in Wintei -- it helps us
iemain waim by taking the light that is aiounu us anu conveiting it to heat in the
clothes we aie weaiing. In the Summei we weai lightei colois to ieflect away light
so that the light is not conveiteu into heat in oui clothes anu we uo not get too hot.
Eeot Tronsport by RoJiotion - Hoy 2010 2
Materials: An empty metal soup can. Natte black paint. A uigital infiaieu
theimometei. Waim watei.

Preparation: Stait off with a iegulai empty metal soup can. Nake suie that it is a
kinu wheie you can peel off its label, anu that unueineath the label, the can is silvei
in coloi.

Peel off the label, paint half of the outsiue of the can with the matte black
coloi anu wait foi it to uiy (Figuie 1). It's not necessaiy to have the can be peifectly
half black anu half silvei but a goou poition of the can shoulu be black.

















Familiaiize youiself with the infiaieu uigital theimometei (IRBT) by ieauing
the instiuctions containeu with it. The IRBT shoulu have vaiious settings; among
othei things, you can use the Fahienheit oi Celsius tempeiatuie scale. Also, most
IRBTs can eithei show the tempeiatuie continuously (usually by piessing theii "on"
button anu holuing it uown), oi they can show the tempeiatuie at a single moment
(usually by piessing anu then ieleasing the "on" button). Note that the IRBT uoes
not measuie tempeiatuie at a single infinitesimally small point in space -- it
measuies tempeiatuie in a small ciiculai aiea. The faithei the IRBT is fiom an
object, the laigei the aiea in which the tempeiatuie will be measuieu.

Foi example, point the IRBT 2-S cm fiom the palm of youi hanu anu measuie
the tempeiatuie. Now keep pointing it at youi hanu but move the IRBT 1 metei
fuithei fiom youi palm. Notice that the tempeiatuie is no longei the same. Even
though you aie pointing in the same uiiection as youi hanu, because the IRBT is
fuithei away, it is measuiing the tempeiatuie in a laige ciicle aiounu youi hanu.
Figure 1. A soup can with its label peeled off and painted half black.
Eeot Tronsport by RoJiotion - Hoy 2010 S
Youi hanu still contiibutes heat but it is no longei the Jominont heat souice in that
ciicle as compaieu to when the IRBT was closei to it.

Procedure: How tbe Color Black Radiates Heat Better

Fill the metal can with waim watei neaily to the top. The tempeiatuie of the
watei shoulu be about S8 uegiees Celsius (1uu uegiees Faienheit). This can easily
be gotten fiom a hot faucet wheie the watei is waim but not hot enough to buin
youi hanu.

Now iecoiu the following uata by pointing youi IRBT S cm fiom the can:
Silvei siue tempeiatuie, black siue tempeiatuie, watei tempeiatuie (measuieu
fiom the open top pait of the can).

Aie the IRBT tempeiatuies the same.

Now close youi eyes anu use youi hanu to touch the can anu feel the
tempeiatuie on the outsiue. Can you tell the uiffeience between the silvei siue anu
the black siue by touch.

This is the uiffeience between heat tiansfeiieu by conuuction vs heat
tiansfeiieu by iauiation. In the case of conuuction, when you touch the can, the
tempeiatuie you feel is the iesult of the theimal motion of the watei molecules
being tiansfeiieu by collisions to the metal atoms in the can, anu then the metal
atoms tiansfeiiing those theimal motions to youi hanu. 0n the unpainteu siue, the
heat is uiiectly making the molecules in youi hanu move fastei; on the painteu siue,
the metal tiansfeis the motion of its atoms to the paint anu then to youi hanu. 0nce
again all of this is by uiiect contact oi conuuction.

But the case with the iauiative tiansfei of heat is uiffeient. The piocess
staits the same by having the watei molecules tiansfei theii heat to the metal. 0n
the black siue, the metal tiansfeis its heat by conuuction to the black paint anu then
the black paint conveits that motion of molecules to light veiy efficiently. 0n the
silvei siue, the metal atoms aie not as efficient in conveiting theii theimal motion
into iauiation anu so less light is emitteu. The IRBT is uetecting that light, anu so the
black siue of the can, emitting moie light, has a highei measuieu tempeiatuie than
the silvei siue. In oui waim watei example , the light that is geneiateu is in the
infiaieu. Now, if we heateu the can to much highei tempeiatuies, the metal woulu
stait to glow ieu. This is still the exact same piocess of conveiting heat to light.
When the metal can staits to glow in visible light, it means that it is simply at a
highei tempeiatuie than it was befoie anu is now also emitting shoitei wavelength
light, which is uetectable by oui eyes insteau of only emitting the longei wavelength
infiaieu light, which is not uetectable by oui eyes but is uetectable by the IRBT.