Properties of Black-Body Radiation

Power density of a black body:

λmax blue-shifted (“white”)

Ludwig
Josef Stefan Boltzmann
Emittance = total power emitted
Ÿ Stefan-Boltzmann law:
M = aT 4 ; a = 56.7 nW m −2 K −4
Ÿ The higher the temperature of
a lamp wire, the more power will
Wien: Physics be emitted as light!
Nobel prize
1911 Ÿ Halogen lamps!
Wien’s displacement law: Tλmax = 2.9 mm K
Nils Walter: Chem 260
Ÿ Surface temperature of the sun w/ λmax ≈ 490 nm!
 The Problem of Classical Physics
“Electromagnetic radiation are waves in a ubiquitous
‘ether’; this ether can oscillate at any frequency”
Ÿ Rayleigh-Jeans law:
Contribution to the energy density of a black body
from radiation in the narrow range λ to λ + ∆ λ : ρ ∆λ
8πkT Lord Raleigh
with ρ =
λ4
Heating your stove would lead
to an ultraviolet catastrophe!

Energy levels
are discrete!
Max Planck:
Physics Nobel Nils Walter: Chem 260
prize 1918
 Quantization of Energy Helps Explain
Black Body Radiation!
Specifically:
E = nhν (quantized) Planck distribution:
h = 6.626 x 10-34 Js 8πhc § 1 ·
(Planck’s constant)
ρ = 5 ¨ hc / λkT ¸
λ ©e −1¹
n = 0, 1, 2, ...

Ÿ Eliminates the
ultraviolet catastrophe
since high-frequency
(energy) oscillators are
not excited

Ÿ Quantitatively accounts for the

Stefan-Boltzmann and Wien laws!
Nils Walter: Chem 260
 Case 2: Quantization of Energy Helps
Explain Experimental Heat Capacities!
Heat capacity =
Your stove top boiler plate
Proportionality constant
has a certain heat capacity: q = C∆T
to describe how much T
rises when heat energy q
is taken up

Heat = thermal
motion of atoms

Cv.m = 3Rf 2
Energy levels hν § e hν / 2 kT ·
are discrete! f = ¨¨ hν / kT ¸¸
Einstein: kT © e Nils − 1Walter:
¹ Chem 260
Physics Nobel
prize 1921
 Case 3: Quantization of Energy
Explains the Photoelectric Effect
Think it through:
If the energy of electromagnetic radiation is quantized in
integers of hν, it is easiest to imagine it as particles or…. photons!
Ÿ Intense (high-power) light = NOT larger amplitude
radiation (as expected classically), BUT more photons
1
photoelectrons: Ekin = me v 2 = hν − Φ
2
independent of light
Ekin

intensity

light

Nils Walter: Chem 260

hν
 Another surprise: Particles can be
diffracted
Interference pattern

Intensity
Davisson & Thomson:
Physics Nobel prize 1937 Diffraction angle

e- interference crystal

Particles can behave wave-like (and waves particle-like )

Wave-particle duality!
Photons: E = hν de Broglie relation:

and E = mc 2
h
Ÿ λ=
c p
and ν =
de Broglie: λ
Physics Nobel
prize 1929
= mcChem 260
and impulseNilspWalter: