Emissivity

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Revision as of 15:14, 18 September 2007 by imported>Niek Sanders (Wiki link to irradiance.)
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Emissivity is a term in radiometry. It is the ratio between the observed exitance and ideal blackbody exitance:

Note that emissivity is a unitless quantity in the range [0,1]. It normally varies as a function of wavelength. Objects with a uniform emissivity are often called gray bodies.