Purpose To study the radiation emitted by a glowing metal filament. Connections to What You Already Know About in Life Have you ever seen the glow of the element in an electric oven or in a toaster? If you have, then you have seen a phenomenon called blackbody radiation! Other common examples that you may have seen are incandescent light bulbs or some types of electric heaters, both of which have filaments that glow and emit heat. The amount of heat and light emitted is directly related but there are also a whole range of other wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum that are emitted as blackbody radiation. Scientists can study the types of radiation emitted to learn more about the properties of the blackbody itself. Vocabulary Blackbody, intensity, spectrometer, spectrum, wavelength Background In the early 1900s several experimental results appeared to be in conflict with classical physics. One of these experiments was the study of blackbody radiation. A blackbody is a solid (such as a piece of iron) that does not emit light at low temperatures, but, when heated, the "blackbody" begins to emit first red and then orange light and at higher temperatures eventually becomes white hot. The intensity