4 ms·

The maximum heat you can get from sunlight is the temperature of the sun: definitely hot enough to ionize most gases.

• shasta 16y ago
  Right. Cuz the photons are the same temperature as the sun. That's why sun photons feel warm.
  • aphyr 16y ago
    It's more true than you might think. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plancks_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plancks_law
  • MaysonL 16y ago
    see: http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=349697 http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=349697
    • shasta 16y ago
      Interesting, thanks. It seems plausible that it isn't possible to redirect light from a uniform temperature black body to produce a higher temperature somewhere else. I'll have to think about it more, though. The thermodynamical argument made in that thread seems flawed to me.