Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: William Wright on 26/06/2009 08:30:02
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William Wright asked the Naked Scientists:
Hi!!
Can you please fill in the blanks for me??
The sun radiates a certain number of photons per square meter times it by the surface area of the sun = total number of photons being ejected by the sun.
If I were to get a mirror to surround the sun and focus all of the photons from the sun onto a small point like the moon, would there be more photons per square meter??
Someone was telling me it would not get hotter than the sun. But if there are more photons per square meter, that would mean more energy was being absorbed per square meter. Can you increase something's temperature by increasing the density of photons onto your object?? ( like an infrared laser)
Regards
William Wright
What do you think?
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It WOULD get hotter and hotter until it was radiating energy at the rate that it was absorbing it. Its final temperature couldn't get hotter than that of the Sun, however, or it would start heating up the Sun to make up for it. It's an 'equilibrium condition'.