[Physics] Is Color Temperature and Wavelength the Same Thing

electromagnetic-radiationfrequencyvisible-lightwavelength

I know that a higher color temperature is associated with cool light and a lower color temperature is associated with warm light (green and red)

However I'm trying to understand the correlation between color temperature and wavelength (or frequency) of light.

Most bulbs are rated with a color temperature in kelvin but contain no information regarding the wavelength of the light.

I need to produce a vast amount of light in the wavelength of 380 nm.

Is it possible to convert kelvin (color temp) into wavelength? If not how can I know the wavelength of a given bulb or light source? I suppose that light may be made up of multiple wavelengths not just one – if that is the case then how can I know which wavelength dominates or how much of each wavelength is emitted by a given source?

Best Answer

Color temperature describes how a particular light source produces light (in the visible range) that "looks like" light from a black body radiator at a particular temperature.

Because it is only intended to help with understanding the apparent color, it will not (in general) help you with figuring out the amount of light in the UV, unless you are actually talking about an incandescent emitter, and the enclosure of the emitter (light bulb) has excellent transmission properties across the range of wavelengths of interest.

In general the spectrum of a black body radiator is given by the Planck Equation. This earlier answer may be helpful to give you some background and plots.

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