Do you know the energy?
Introduction
A liquid crystal thermometer shows temperatures as colors. These postcards can be used to compare the energy output of an incandescent lamp to that of the sun. The comparison can be used to measure the distance to the sun.
Material
Assembly
Optional. You do not need an entire postcard for
the experiment, you can cut the postcard into 3 smaller cards they
need to be cut at least 5 cm (2) on a side.
To slow down the heating of the postcard use spray adhesive to mount
it to a slab of metal.
To Do and Notice
Place all postcards in the shade. The postcards should start out by being black.
Move a postcard into direct sunlight quickly. Hold the card perpendicular to a line pointing to the sun.
The card will warm up turning first red then
yellow, green, blue and black again.
Time how long it takes from the first appearance of red to the last
disappearance of blue in the center of the card.
Repeat the experiment using another card.
Turn on a 200 Watt light.(In the shade)
Hold the card 10 cm from the bulb and time how long it takes from the
first appearance of red to the last disappearance of blue in the
center of the card.
Be sure to hold the card to the side of the lamp so that is it heated
only by radiation, not by convection.
Find the distance you must hold the card from the lightbulb so that
it takes the same amount of time to change colors as the card held in
the sun. Measure the distance from the center of the lightbulb to the
card.
Notice that the card is much closer to the lightbulb than to the sun
when it takes the same amount of time to change
temperatures.
Whats Going On?
When it takes the same amount of time to change
the temperature of the card with the lightbulb as with the sun, then
the same amount of energy is flowing into the card from the lightbulb
as is flowing into the card from the sun.
The flow of energy into the card during a time interval is inversely
proportional to the square of the distance from the source of the
energy. We can find the distance to the sun if we know its energy
output, the distance to the lamp, and the energy flow from the lamp,
which is 200 Watts. See the math root next.
Math Root
The power out of the sun or a spherical lamp bulb spreads over a sphere uniformly. The power does not vanish but simply spreads over larger and larger spheres. The area of a sphere is 4pr2. Thus the power per unit area, P/4pr2, which is what changes the temperature of the postcard, decreases proportional to the inverse square of the distance from the center of the sun or lightbulb.
When the card takes the same amount of time to change through its temperature range then the power per unit area from the lamp is equal to the power per unit area from the sun: In the following example we used 20 cm or 0.2 meter as the distance from the center of the bulb to the card.
The total power output by the sun is 2.8 x 1026 watts.
Power of lamp/distance to lamp2 = power of sun/distance to sun2
Plamp/D2lamp=
Psun/D2sun
or
D2sun = PsunD2lamp/Plamp
D2sun = (2.8 x1026 W/200 W )(0.2m)2
D2sun = 2.4 x 1011 m
The actual distance to the sun is 1.5 x 1011meters
We would have done better if we corrected for the absorption of power from the sun by the atmosphere. But we got to within a factor of 2 with a $2 postcard, so that isn't too bad.
Scientific Explorations with Paul Doherty |
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7 March 2001 |