Knopf Canada. The white light spectrum shown for an object at K closely approximates the spectrum of light emitted by the sun. Potential Energy Potential energy is an energy that, if given enough time, can be released in some form of kinetic motion energy. So, what's happening in our stove coil? E is the energy of the emitted light. The classical prediction fails to fit the experimental curves entirely and does not have a maximum intensity. It was as if the vibrations of a mass on the end of a spring could only occur at specific energies. The radiation emitted by such bodies is called black body radiation.