Daphnie Jill M.

Aljas BS ChE IV

September 17, 2011 Essay No. 2

How do you perceive Radiation as a Mechanism for Heat Transport? To describe radiation, let us borrow a famous line from the movie A Walk to Remember Its like the wind, you cant see it but you feel it. A very simple example in our environment of radiation is when the sun warms the earth, energy radiates from the sun, much of it visible light, the rest similar electromagnetic waves but at wavelengths our eyes are not sensitive to. When electromagnetic waves travel through empty space at the speed of light, it is called radiation. When electromagnetic waves come in contact with an object, the waves transfer the heat to that object. Objects emit radiation when high energy electrons in a higher atomic level fall down to lower energy levels. The energy lost is emitted as light or electromagnetic radiation. Energy that is absorbed by an atom causes its electrons to "jump" up to higher energy levels. All objects absorb and emit radiation. When the absorption of energy balances the emission of energy, the temperature of an object stays constant. If the absorption of energy is greater than the emission of energy, the temperature of an object rises. If the absorption of energy is less than the emission of energy, the temperature of an object falls. Radiation heat transfer is concerned with the exchange of thermal radiation energy between two or more bodies. Thermal radiation is defined as electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of 0.1 to 100 microns (which encompasses the visible light regime), and arises as a result of a temperature difference between two bodies. No medium need exist between the two bodies for heat transfer to take place (as in needed by heat conduction and convection). Rather, the intermediaries are photons which travel at the speed of light.

The heat transferred into or out of an object by thermal radiation is a function of several components. These include its surface reflectivity, emissivity, surface area, temperature, and geometric orientation with respect to other thermally participating objects. In turn, an objects surface reflectivity and emissivity is a function of its surface conditions (roughness, finish, etc) and composition. Radiation heat transfer can be described by a reference to the so called black-body. A black body is a body that absorbs all radiation that falls on its surface. Actual black body dont exist in nature, though its characteristic are approximately by a hole in a box filled with highly adsorptivie material. The emission spectrum of such a black body was first fully described by Max Planck. A black body is a hypothetical body that completely absorbs all wavelengths of thermal radiation incident on it. Such bodies do not reflect light, and therefore appear black if their temperatures are low enough so as not to be self-luminous. All black bodies heated to a given temperature emit thermal radiation.

REFERENCES: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/radiation-heat-transfer-d_431.html (Retrieved: 09/16/11) http://www.wisc-online.com/Objects/ViewObject.aspx?ID=SCE304 (Retrieved: 09/16/11) http://www.efunda.com/formulae/heat_transfer/radiation/overview_rad.cfm(Retrieved: 09/16/11) http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/light_lessons/thermal/transfer.html (Retrieved: 09/16/11)