Blackbody Radiation

Quantum electrodynamics has established that photons in enormous numbers and at very low energy levels interacting with electrons account for what are called electromagnetic fields. Photons (regardless of wavelength) interacting with electrons likewise affect the electromagnetic fields in our gear, having a direct influence on signal quality. It is in this interaction that the LessLoss Blackbody functions.

So what is blackbody radiation?

The vast electromagnetic spectrum encompasses radio, microwaves, T-rays, visible light, ultraviolet light, gamma rays and X-rays. All objects emit electromagnetic radiation as a function of their temperatures. You have heard that the higher an object's temperature, the more infrared radiation it emits. This can be taken further when, for example, hot metal glows red. When heated further, it glows white hot.

Black body radiation is a special case of thermal radiation, in which the spectral radiance of electromagnetic energy is a probability distribution depending only on temperature. Room temperature black body radiation is completely invisible to us.

Spectral radiance is the energy per unit time per unit surface area per unit solid angle per unit wavelength and is described by Planck’s Law of Radiation. The study of black-body radiation was an integral step in the historic formulation of quantum mechanics.

Now for a little glossary building:

Reflection is the absorption and re-emittance of electromagnetic energy on a huge scale, which is what we see, for example, when we brush our teeth in front of a mirror. We see light patterns shaped like us, absorbed and re-emitted by the silver backing of the mirror. In quantum electrodynamics, the identical reflective behavior is called electron-photon interaction, but it is so tiny we can't see it. We need many of these to occur in order to be able to say that an event of any importance has taken place. That's only because of our arbitrary size and speed at which our nervous systems operate.

Yet this same interaction occurs whenever photon particles interact with anything in any quantity!

We comprehend things based on our perceptions. We are emotionally tied to this: nature tunes our eyes to certain frequencies which we then call “occurrences” only because we noticed them.

Take note: some of these “invisible phenomena” influence the reflected, or re-emitted, energy of our audio gear.