Breakdown In Planck's Law: Bringing Objects Close Together Can Boost Radiation Heat Transfer
Friday, July 31, 2009 - 02:22
in Physics & Chemistry
A well-established physical law describes the transfer of heat between two objects, but some physicists have long predicted that the law should break down when the objects are very close together. Scientists had never been able to confirm, or measure, this breakdown in practice. For the first time, however, researchers have achieved this feat, and determined that the heat transfer can be 1,000 times greater than the law predicts.