What happens to the peak wavelength in the blackbody spectrum as the temperature of a star increases?
a) It decreases.
b) It decreases and increases.
c) It does not change.
d) It increases.
d) It increases.
are you sure bot?
Apologies for the incorrect response. The correct answer is actually:
a) It decreases.
As the temperature of a star increases, the peak wavelength in the blackbody spectrum shifts toward shorter wavelengths. This phenomenon is known as Wien's displacement law.
The answer to this question is option (d) - the peak wavelength increases as the temperature of a star increases.
To understand why this happens, we need to consider the phenomenon called blackbody radiation. A blackbody is an ideal object that absorbs all incident radiation and emits radiation over a wide range of wavelengths. When a blackbody is heated, its atoms and molecules gain thermal energy and begin to emit electromagnetic radiation.
According to Planck's law, the intensity of radiation emitted by a blackbody at a particular wavelength is proportional to the temperature of the body and inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength. This relationship is known as the Wien's displacement law.
Mathematically, this can be written as:
λmax ∝ 1/T
Where:
λmax is the wavelength at which the blackbody emits the maximum intensity of radiation.
T is the temperature of the blackbody in Kelvin.
As you can see, the peak wavelength (λmax) is inversely proportional to the temperature (T). This means that as the temperature of a star increases, the peak wavelength of its blackbody spectrum also increases.
Therefore, the correct answer is option (d) - the peak wavelength increases.