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black body

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black body

In physics, a hypothetical object that completely absorbs all electromagnetic radiation striking it. It is also a perfect emitter of thermal radiation.

Although a black body is hypothetical, a practical approximation can be made by using a small hole in the wall of a constant-temperature enclosure. The radiation emitted by a black body is of all wavelengths, but with maximum radiation at a particular wavelength that depends on the body's temperature. As the temperature increases, the wavelength of maximum intensity becomes shorter (see Wien's displacement law). The total energy emitted at all wavelengths is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature (see Stefan-Boltzmann law). Attempts to explain these facts failed until the development of quantum theory in 1900.


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A black body would pop out of the companion, bang would go Saxtorph's rifle, and down would go the black body.
There's that old buffer you found on the lawn," and he pointed without pretence of reverence at the big black body with the yellow head.
 
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