• The emitted energy is neither visible nor UV light,
because the Earth is not hot enough to emit light in
these regions.
• Since the temperature of the Earth’s surface is
approximately 300K, then according to the equation
above for , if the earth acted like a blackbody,
its wavelength of maximum emission would be about
10 µm.
• Indeed, the Earth’s emission does peak in that
general region, actually at about 13 µm, and consists
of infrared light having wavelength starting at about
5 µm and extending, albeit weakly, beyond 50 µm.