From the graph above, it looks like a blackbody radiator would emit a distribution of colors. However, when we look at a hot stove, why do we only see the color at the peak of the distribution?
maq
@farhanazam98 I think its because depending on the temp, the peak is at a diff color (look at the curves for T=5000K vs T=4000K). I'm guessing the temp of the hot stove has a distribution where more red/orange light is being radiated than the other colors
sarukkai
I think the reason we don't see the full distribution of colors from a hot stove is due to the way the human eye functions and the principle of metamerism discussed later in the lecture--we can observe multiple different observed spectra as the same signal in the eye.
From the graph above, it looks like a blackbody radiator would emit a distribution of colors. However, when we look at a hot stove, why do we only see the color at the peak of the distribution?
@farhanazam98 I think its because depending on the temp, the peak is at a diff color (look at the curves for T=5000K vs T=4000K). I'm guessing the temp of the hot stove has a distribution where more red/orange light is being radiated than the other colors
I think the reason we don't see the full distribution of colors from a hot stove is due to the way the human eye functions and the principle of metamerism discussed later in the lecture--we can observe multiple different observed spectra as the same signal in the eye.