Post by tenochtitlanuk on Jul 13, 2024 8:01:17 GMT -5
I found an old printout of code I wrote decades ago, when text-only output was possible. Converted to LB and kept getting overflow and underflow errors- the variables and constants are HUGE or TINY, and you have exponentials of already-big numbers to play with. Eventually tamed by working with logged-variables, so division becomes subtraction. Then had to play to detect the end of the rising curve where it turns back down. And some fun graphics I'm still playing with.
A 'black body' is a 100% efficient radiator of emr. At temperatures up to the 5000s or so,the biggest fraction of energy is observed to be in red and infra red. At temperatures above this, the blue component outweighs the red. Hence 'cool' stars look red; very hot one look blue-white. ( Orion has good examples of each.
Unfortunately 19th century theory predicted that the curve should ALWAYS show higher and higher values radiated as the wavelength gets shorter. Only quantum theory showed why we don't have an 'ultra violet catastrophe', where everything in the universe would heat/cool to the same temperature!
I'll put up a webpage soon- meanwhile here's my nice graphic output. Colourful, but you need a physics background to understand it! Relevant maths below!
