Question

Professor is planning to use his home resources to generate power, but now he wants to look at radiation rather than a heat engine. He still likes using his oven, which operates at a peak temperature of 500°F, and he assumes that it radiates like a blackbody. He has identified two novel semiconductors — ZnSe and NiO — which can absorb photons below wavelengths of 460 nm and 311 nm, respectively.

a. What is the emitted power, Eb (in W/m2) for my oven?

b. Which material can absorb photons from a larger fraction of the blackbody spectrum?

c. What is that fraction of the spectrum, F?

Answer 1