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Physicist Max Planck showed how objects like stars give off different colors based on their temperature. What color are the hottest stars

User Schernichkin
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2 Answers

22 votes
22 votes

Final answer:

The hottest stars are blue or blue-white, indicating their high temperature, as they emit most of their energy at shorter wavelengths, while the coolest stars are red, emitting at longer wavelengths.

Step-by-step explanation:

Physicist Max Planck made significant contributions to our understanding of how objects, such as stars, emit light. Using the relationship known as Wien's Law, we know that the color of visible light emitted by a star is an indicator of its temperature. The hottest stars tend to appear blue or blue-white because they emit most of their energy at shorter wavelengths, which are associated with higher temperatures.

Conversely, the coolest stars often appear red because they emit light at longer wavelengths, indicative of lower temperatures. Since the amount of energy emitted at various wavelengths changes with temperature, the color of a star can be used as a sort of cosmic thermometer. While red might be associated with warmth in art and everyday symbols like faucet controls, in the realm of astrophysics, blue represents the hotter temperatures of stars.

User FranGoitia
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20 votes
20 votes

Answer:

the brightest found are Blue - White with

Step-by-step explanation:

The energy emission of objects increases with their temperature, specifically Wien described the process in an expression


\lambda_(maximum) T = 2,898 10⁻³

With this expression we can find the temperature of the stars by the color they emit.

Specifically the Sun has a color of 550 nm which corresponds to 5400K

bright stars have a BLUE color corresponding to 7500K

the brightest found are Blue - White with a temperature of 20000K

User David Boyd
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