GEO 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Inverse-Square Law, Rayleigh Scattering, Radiant Energy
Document Summary
Physics background: all objects emit radiant energy. Hotter objects edit more energy than colder objects. The amount of energy radiated is proportional to the temperature of the object to the fourth power: this is the stefan boltzman law. The hotter the object the shorter the wavelength of the emitted energy. Inverse square law: the farther away from the sun, the less light. Inverse distance squared give you the sunlight: planet x is 3 times as far from the sun as planet y. Blue light from the dun is removed from the beam by raleigh scattering, so the sun appears to be yellow. Simple bare rock model planetary energy balance: we can use the concepts learned so far to calculate the radiation balance of earth or other planet, incoming energy = outgoing energy. Energy in is intensity of sunlight over the surface area of the earth. Energy out sigma t tot he 4th times the sa of a sphere: albedo.
