Blackbody Radiation & Plancks

Hypothesis
A blackbody is any object
that absorbs all light
incident upon it
Shiny & reflective objects
are poor blackbodies
Recall: good absorbers and
also good emitters
Ideally we imagine a box
with a small hole that very
little light (EM radiation)
can reflect back out

Consider heating blackbodies to
various temperatures and
recording intensity of radiation at
differing frequencies
At both low and high freq. there is
very little radiation
The rad. Peaks at an intermediate
freq.
This distribution holds true
regardless of the material
Note: As temp. increases area
under curve increases
This represents total energy
As temp. increases peak moves
to higher frequency

The temperature
therefore indicates its
emitted color and vice
versa
We can determine star
temperature (surface)
by analyzing its color
Red stars are fairly cool,
like the bolt shown
But White, or Blue-
White stars are very hot
Our sun is intermediate
Plancks Quantum Hypothesis
Attempts to explain
blackbody radiation using
classical physics failed
miserably
At low temps. Prediction &
exp match well
At high temps. Classical
prediction explodes to
infinity
Very different from
experimental result
Referred to as the
Ultraviolet Catastrophe

German physicists Max
Planck diligently tried to
solve this issue
He stumbled upon a
mathematical formula that
matched the experiment
He then needed to derive the
physical formula
The only way was to assume
energy (in the form of EM
radiation) way quantized
Little packets of energy

E f
Inserting a constant, h
E = n h f
Where n = number of packets
and h = plancks constant
h = 6.63 x 10
-34
J s
One of our fundamental
constants of nature
This tells us that energy can
only change in quantum
jumps, a very tiny amount not
experienced everyday


Planck was not satisfied and
believed (along with other
physicists) that it was a purely
mathematical solution, not a
real physical one
It does explain the exp. quite well:
The > f, the > quantum of energy
needed
As frequency increased, the
amount of energy needed for
small jumps increased as well
The object only has a certain
amount of energy to supply
Therefore: radiation drops to zero
at high frequency

Photons & the Photoelectric Effect
Planck believed that the
atoms of a blackbody
vibrated with discrete
frequencies (like
standing waves)
But, at the time light was
considered a wave
therefore no connection
Einstein took the idea of
quanta of energy and
applied it to light
called photons


Each photon has energy
based on its frequency
E = n h f
A beam of light can be
thought of as a beam of
particles
More intense = more
particles
Since each photon have
small amounts of
energy, there must be
tremendous numbers of
them

Einstein applied this model to the photoelectric effect
issue
Light hitting the surface of metals can cause electrons to
be ejected
The effect could not be explained using the wave theory
of light
We can determine the number of e ejected by connecting
the apparatus to a simple circuit

The minimum amount of
energy needed to eject e =
work function, W
0
Metal dependent
Usually a few eV
If an e is given energy by
light that exceeds W
0
, the
additional amount goes
into kinetic energy of e
K
max
= E W
0

Classical physics
predicts
1. light of any frequency
should eject e as long
as intensity is high
enough
2. The K of e should
increase with
intensity

These do not agree with
experiment:
1. There is a minimum
frequency required
the cutoff frequency,
f
0
If f < f
0
no e regardless of
the intensity
2. The K
max
of e depends
only on the frequency
Increasing intensity
about f0 only increases
the number of e
Both of these are explained
using the photon model of
light
1. Changing intensity only
changes the number of
photons
2. E is ejected only if the
photon has sufficient
energy (at least equal to
the work function)
The is the cutoff
frequency, f
0

If f > f
0
, the e leaves metal
with some K
If f < f
0
, no e are ejected
regardless of intensity
Since energy is that of a
photon
K
max
= hf W
0
Therefore, K
max
depends
linearly on frequency
A plot of K
max
for Na & Au
shows different cutoff
frequencies, but the same
slope, h
Photons & the Photoelectric Effect
Quantization of light Albert
Einstein (1905)
Based on properties of EM waves
Emitted radiation should be
quantized
Quantum (packet of light)
photon
Each photon has energy
E = h f
Little bundles of light energy
Connection between wave &
particle nature of light

Einstein used this to explain the photoelectric effect
Certain metallic materials are photosensitive
Light striking material emits electrons (e)
The radiant energy supplies the work necessary to
free the e photoelectrons
When photocell is illuminated with monochromatic
light, characteristic curves are obtained
Emission begins the
instant (~10-9 s) even
with low intensity light
Classically, time is
required to build up
energy
Since light can be
considered a bundle of
energy, E = hf
The e absorb whole
photon or nothing
Since e are bound by
attractive forces, work
must be done
Conservation of energy
hf = Kmax +
where = amount of
work (energy) needed to
free e
Part of energy of photon
frees e & the rest is
carried away as K
Least tightly bound will
have maximum K
Energy needed = work
function, 0
hf = Kmax + 0
Other e require more
energy & the K is less
Increasing light
intensity, increases # of
photons thus increasing
# of e
Does not change energy of
individual photons
Photon energy depends on
frequency
Below a certain freq. no e
are dislodged
When Kmax = 0 the
minimum cutoff frequency,
f0
Hf0 = Kmax + 0 = 0 + 0
f0 = 0 / h
Photon has enough
energy to free e, but no
extra to give it K
Sometimes called
threshold freq.
Light below this (no
matter how many) will not
dislodge e