Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/paper-1/section-a/a4/solution

The Stefan–Boltzmann law gives solar luminosity . At orbital distance , the incident irradiance is . A spherical absorber intercepts a disc of area but radiates over . Thus the uniform-temperature radiative equilibrium estimate is
The planetary radius cancels. This is a black-body radiation estimate with zero reflected fraction and complete redistribution of absorbed heat. More generally the balance fixes , rather than the arithmetic mean of a nonuniform surface temperature. It excludes atmospheric heating and thermal lag; no measured surface temperature is inferred.

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