Solved cryptogram
Double the temperature of a glowing object and it radiates sixteen times as much energy.
Physics Facts, sourced to NIST.
What it means
The power radiated by a hot surface climbs as the fourth power of its absolute temperature, so small increases in heat produce large increases in output. This is why a filament that is only modestly hotter is dramatically brighter, why a star's surface temperature dominates its luminosity, and why the Earth's climate is so sensitive to changes in how much heat it can shed to space.
The claim comes from NIST, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.
This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 73 letters over 22 different ones, graded hard.
- SourceNIST
- CollectionPhysics Facts
- Difficultyhard
- Length73 letters, 22 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.