ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

Ermita, Manila

College of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department

Experiment No. 2

Inverse Square Law for Heat and Stefan-

Boltzmann Law

Submitted by:

Aquino, Chamylle Rose T.

Carlos, Fauline Deune G.
Fundano, Jerome D.R.
Tayactac, Honeylet R.
Zulueta, Adrienne Hera O.

Submitted to:

Engr. Rugi Vicente Rubi

July 21, 2017

I. Objectives:
1. To show that the intensity of radiation on the surface is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance of the surface from the radiation source.

2. To show that the intensity of radiation varies as the fourth power of the source
temperature.

II. Introduction:

The energy radiated from a blackbody at temperature T does indeed scale like T 4 . Any
object (blackbody or not) can absorb radiated energy, and that is the part which increases
the temperature. With the use of the thermal radiation unit the experimental procedures
were performed. For the Inverse Square Law for Heat part, the set-up mainly consists of
the radiometer and the heat source only. While for the Stefan-Boltzmann Law part, the
set-up mainly consists of the radiometer, heat source and a black plate.
The inverse square law is a statement about the density of radiation (or intensity, in units
of W/m) from a point source, not about either the source or receiving blackbody itself. If
at a distance of one meter from a point source an object receives 1 W/m of radiative
energy, then at a distance of 2 meters the same object will receive 0.25 W/m of energy.
That's true for a monochromatic point source as well as for a blackbody, and comes
exclusively from geometry.

StefanBoltzmann law, statement that the total radiant heat energy emitted from a surface
is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature. E is the radiant heat
energy emitted from a unit area in one second and T is the absolute temperature (in
degrees Kelvin), then E = T4, the Greek letter sigma () representing the constant of
proportionality. The law applies only to blackbodies, theoretical surfaces that absorb all
incident heat radiation.

III. Materials and Equipment Needed:

1. Thermal Radiation Unit

IV. Procedure:
A. Inverse Square Law for Heat

1. Before the experiment begins, let the heater reach a stable temperature for
about 15 minutes and the power control must be set to wide position.
2. Along the horizontal track, record the distance from the heat source (X) and the
radiometer reading (R) for a number of positions of the radiometer. Before
 moving the radiometer to a new position, it must be stabilized for approximately
two minutes.

Initial Values of Variables to be used:

Distance from the heat source (X) = 800 mm. Note that radiometer sensor surface
is 65 mm from the center line of detector carriage and therefore center line
position will be 865 mm.

B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law
1. The power control must be set to maximum on the instrument console.

2. At ambient conditions, record the temperature reading (T) and the radiometer
reading (R). And also, record for selected increments of increasing temperature up
to maximum within a practical range. The two readings must be noted
simultaneously at any point given. The reflective disc is usually placed in the
radiometer aperture to avoid heating effects and zero drift while stabilizing the
black plate temperature between each increase of the heater power control.

Initial Values of Variables to be used:

Distance from radiometer to black plate (X) = 200 mm

Distance from black plate to heat source (Y) = 50 mm

V. Results and Discussion:

A. Inverse Square Law for Heat

Radiometer Log Radiometer

Distance, X (mm) Log Distance, X Reading, R
Reading, R (W/m)
25 292 1.3979 2.4654

60 146 1.7782 2.1644

110 74 2.0414 1.8692

160 39 2.2041 1.5911

210 25 2.3222 1.3979

260 18 2.4150 1.2553

310 14 2.4919 1.1461

 3

2.5

2
Log Radiometer
1.5 y = -0.7874x + 3.4303
Reading, R (W/m) Series1
R = 0.9773
1 Linear (Series1)

0.5

0
0 1 2 3
Log Distance, X (mm)

The radiation intensity is what the radiometer receives from the heat surface and it is not
what the heat surface emits. We can claim that when an object is far away from a heat source its
radiation intensity should be lesser to an object nearer from the heat source; as can be seen from
the graph above this was proven. The graph shows an inverse relationship between the distance
and the radiation intensity. Where, as the distance of the matter from the heat source increases its
radiation intensity decreases. The slope of the graph is -0.7874 (since it is trending downward)
which indicates the rate of change of the graph.

B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law

Readings Calculations
Stefan
Derived:
Temperature Radiometer TS TA Boltzmann:
Reading, T Reading, R Qb = 11.07 * R
() () Qb = (TS4-TA4)
() (W/m2)
(W/m2)
(W/m2)
25 5 346.95 299.85 55.35 363.23
25 4 347.95 297.25 44.28 381.77
25 3 346.15 297.25 33.21 371.37
25 2 346.65 298.25 22.14 366.48
25 1 346.05 297.95 11.07 366.25
25 1 346.25 297.85 11.07 368.73
 The table above shows an inverse relationship between the calculated Qb using the
derived Incident Radiation and Emitted Radiation principle and the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. The
derived formula is seen as very dependent with the radiation reading while the Stefan-Boltzmann
formula is dependent with the source temperature (Ts) and radiometer temperature (TA).

According to the Stefan-Boltzmann Law, the radiation heat energy emitted from a black
body surface is directly proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature and this can
be observed from the table above also; where at first an increasing trend of temperature
(difference of Ts4 and TA4) and Qb is seen. Since the Qb is also affected by the source
temperature, not only by the received radiation temperature, the computed energy emitted by unit
area of a black body did not get a perfect increasing trend which means it varies to the Ts4. Or
the inconsistency from the Ts may be due to the surrounding temperature or a personal error
where, respectively, when a sudden temperature increase or decrease occurs and if the reading
was recorded even though it is not yet stabilized.

VI. Conclusions:
Base from the data collected, the experiment was successfully performed since the
objectives were proven. Such as, the intensity of radiation on the surface is inversely
proportional to the square of the distance of the surface from the radiation source. The Stefan-
Boltzmann Law was not verified since the intensity of radiation should vary to the fourth power
of the source temperature. Basically, we should observe that, the lower temperature from the heat
source the lower radiation intensity will be received. But due to experimental errors our data
wasnt able to achieve the correct consistency.

Appendices:
Appendix A. Experimental Data
A. Inverse Square Law for Heat

Distance, X
25 60 110 160 210 260 310
(mm)
Radiometer
Reading, R 292 146 74 39 25 18 14
(W/m)
B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law

Temperature
25 25 25 25 25 25
Reading ()
Radiometer
5 4 3 2 1 1
Reading, R (W/m2)
TA (K) 299.85 297.25 297.25 298.25 297.95 297.85

Appendix B. Sample Computations

A. Inverse Square Law for Heat

Log [Distance, X
1.3979 1.7782 2.0414 2.2041 2.3222 2.4150 2.4914
(mm)]
Log [Radiometer
2.4654 2.1644 1.8962 1.5911 1.3979 1.2553 1.1462
Reading, R (W/m2)]

Log (X) -> Log (25) = 1.3979

Log (60) = 1.7782
Log (R) -> Log (292) = 2.4654
Log (146) = 2.1644

B. Stefan-Boltzmann Law
Qb = 11.07 * R -> Qb = 11.07 * 5 = 55.35 W/m2
Qb = 11.07 * 4 = 44.28 W/m2
Qb = (TS4-TA4) -> Qb = 5.67 x 10-8[(346.95)4 (299.85)4] = 363.23 W/m2
Qb = 5.67 x 10-8[(347.25)4 (297.25)4] = 381.77 W/m2