Wien's constant

Wien's constant is a physical constant that defines the relationship between the thermodynamic temperature of a black body (an object that radiates electromagnetic energy perfectly) and the wavelength at which the intensity of the radiation is the greatest. The constant is denoted by the Greek lowercase letter sigma with a subscript w ( _w ). It is equal to approximately 2.898 x 10 ^-3 meter-kelvin (0.2898 centimeter-kelvin).

The product of the thermodynamic temperature of a black body in kelvin s, and the wavelength of its peak energy output in meter s, is equal to Wien's constant. Thus, as a black body grows hotter, the wavelength of its peak energy output grows shorter, as shown in the illustration.

Also see Table of Physical Constants .

Read more about it at: > The Physics Department at Georgia State University explains Wien's displacement law and blackbody radiation.

Last updated on: Sep 21, 2005

>  Enterprise Software related Research & News >  White Papers for the Retail Industry Are you a Know-IT-All? Who was the first woman programmer? a. Admiral Grace Hopper b. Countess Ada Lovelace Answer  Get the Word of the Day  Follow us on Twitter WORD OF THE DAY... MinWin LEARN MORE ABOUT... Microsoft MinWin and you Quiz: Security and Windows Server 2008 USA Contributors Worldwide Contributors Awards and Recognition Our 60+ tech-specific sites WhatIs.com RSS Feeds