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Prior to Kirchhoff's studies, it was known that for total heat radiation, the ratio of emissive power to absorptive ratio was the same for all bodies emitting and absorbing thermal radiation in thermodynamic equilibrium. This means that a good absorber is a good emitter. Naturally, a good reflector is a poor absorber.
Thus Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation can be stated: For any material at all, radiating and absorbing in thermodynamic equilibrium at any given temperature T, for every wavelength λ, the ratio of emissive power to absorptivity has one universal value, which is characteristic of a perfect black body, and is an emissive power which we here ...
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (German: [ˈgʊs.taːf ˈkɪʁç.hɔf]; 12 March 1824 – 17 October 1887) was a German chemist, mathematican and physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects.
(A comparison with Planck's law is used if one is concerned with particular wavelengths of thermal radiation.) The ratio varies from 0 to 1. The surface of a perfect black body (with an emissivity of 1) emits thermal radiation at the rate of approximately 448 watts per square metre (W/m 2) at a room temperature of 25 °C (298 K; 77 °F).
A key to understanding the greenhouse effect is Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation. At any given wavelength the absorptivity of the atmosphere will be equal to the emissivity. Radiation from the surface could be in a slightly different portion of the infrared spectrum than the radiation emitted by the atmosphere.
The radiation of such perfect emitters is called black-body radiation. The ratio of any body's ... this relation is known as Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation.
What is non-trivial is the proposition that , which is a consequence of Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation. [4]: 385 ) A so-called grey body is a body for which the spectral emissivity is independent of wavelength, so that the total emissivity, , is a constant.
Thus Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation can be stated: For any material at all, radiating and absorbing in thermodynamic equilibrium at any given temperature T, for every wavelength λ, the ratio of emissive power to absorptive ratio has one universal value, which is characteristic of a perfect black body, and is an emissive power which we ...