Basics of Physics II

Problems Sheet 2 Samuel Barroso Bellido

-Radiation- -University of Szczecin-

1 Theory
1.1 Black Body which avoid that perfection. The energy emit-
ted by a hot body is one of them.
Heat is transmitted by a few mechanisms. All
Thermodynamics could only explain that a
of them require a medium to transfer heat but ra-
body is not able to emit at low frequencies (or
diation. Radiation by itself is the emission of a
high wavelength) as much as it does at high fre-
hot body due to its internal electronic structure
quencies (or low wavelength).
which emits photons, it is, particles of light or
simply electromagnetic fields, that carry energy
with them, and so, the body reduces its energy
and heat.
We are going to show an introduction about
how this radiation behaves. When an incom-
ing radiation hits a body, there are three pos-
sible fates for all the energy it carries: trans-
mission, absorbtion or reflection. The so-called
black body (Kirchhoff 1960) is a hypothetical
body such that it absorbs all incoming radiation.
Afterwards, the absorbed radiation will be remit-
ted such that the energy of the body is constant
in time, so the emitted radiation is equal to the Figure 1: Laws in the Black-Body History
absorbed one.
If the incoming radiation is not absorbed com- In Figure 1 the experimental shape of the
pletely, then the body is called a grey body. The emission of a black body for a certain tempera-
percentage of radiation which is absorbed can be ture of the body is plotted in blue. In green, the
written as an absorbtion parameter α, so for a known theoretical result is also plotted, which
black body α = 1, and for a grey body α ∈ [0, 1[. is completely different from the experimental re-
All bodies are grey bodies, but some of them sult. This fact is called the ultraviolet catas-
can be taken as black bodies with an effective trophe, because traditional branches of Physics
behaviour, as the Sun, the planets or the back- could not explain it.
ground of what we see of the Universe (the black In 1896, Wien wrote an approximation which
that is always behind photographs of stars and is almost exact for high frequencies but not for
galaxies). low frequencies, it is, the other way around the
classical one by Rayleigh and Jeans. It is also
shown in Figure 1 with a pink curve. The exact
1.2 Ultraviolet Catastrophe and Laws for
one is a mixture between both descriptions.
Black Body Radiation
Nothing before 1900 gave a clue about the
Classical Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Elec- solution. It was Planck who arrived to the ex-
tromagnetism and Classical Statistical Physics act theoretical equation making an awful assump-
described everything known until the end of 19th tion (in his words). Throughout the deduction,
century. But there were two or three things Planck used the fact that the energy of the black
1
Sometimes one usually mixes the meaning of discrete energy in Quantum Mechanics and discretization of the energy
in time. Discretization here, when we talk about a black body, is just that the energy is emitted by small pieces, so small
that we cannot be aware that they exist, such that the energy, macroscopically, looks like continuous, but it is not, and
the existence of those small pieces changes completely the result of the radiation of a black body. Indeed, those small
particles are photons, which are particles emitted one by one with a continuous spectrum of energies.

1
body is not being continuously emitted but in Rayleigh-Jeans Law
small packages of energy E = hν 1 . So, chang-
Let us write the equations for the old approxi-
ing integrals by usual sums, he obtained Planck’s
mations and the exact one. The theoretical result
Law.
by Rayleigh and Jeans describe the emission in
Before showing the expressions, lets talk
terms of the frequency or the wavelength as
about the magnitudes. The emission of a hot
body is usually denoted as the power it emits 2πν 2 kT
in all angular direction, for each unit of area for Iν (T ) = ,
c2
each frequency, so the units of the spectral radi-
ance are and in terms of the wavelength
W
[Bν (T )] = ,
sr · m2 · Hz 2πckT
Iλ (T ) = ,
or, using the wavelength instead of the frequency λ4
W where k is the Boltzmann constant
[Bλ (T )] = .
sr · m3
If we integrate over all angles, since the expres- k = 1.38 × 10−23 J/K,
sion does not depend on any angle because it is
isotropic, we get the spectral irradiance, whose and h is the Planck constant
units are
[Iν (T )] = 2
W
, h = 6.626 × 10−34 J· s.
m · Hz
or This constant is introduced by Planck in 1900,
W
[Iλ (T )] = 3 , so here (around 50 years before) this constant is
m
not recognized by Rayleigh and Jeans to mean
and their relation is2
Z anything important.
Iν (T ) = dΩBν (T ) = πBν (T ),
Ω
Wien’s Law
where dΩ denotes a small angular section from
the body. The approximation found by Wien in terms
All the following laws are usually written of the frequency is
as Bν (T ) because it contains more information3
2πhν 3 − hν
than any other magnitude. For us, it will be eas- Iν (T ) = e kT ,
ier to work with Iν (T ). c2
Besides, all expressions are written in terms and in terms of the wavelength is left to the
of the frequency ν or the wavelength λ. The re- reader in Problem 1 of Section 3.
lation for an electromagnetic wave, which travels
at the speed of light, is c = λν, but it cannot be Planck’s Law
simply substituted into the expressions since all
expressions are defined by derivatives, and then The complete description of the behaviour of
if we integrate a small interval [λ1 , λ2 ], that is the black-body radiation is given by Planck like
equivalent to [ν1 , ν2 ], then
2πhν 3 1
Z λ2 Z ν1 Iν (T ) = 2 hν ,
Iλ (T )dλ = Iν (T )dν = c e kT − 1
λ1 ν2
Z ν2   or in terms of the wavelength as
dν
=− Iν (T ) dλ,
ν1 dλ 2πhc2 1
Iλ (T ) = 5 hc .
and then λ e λkT − 1
 
dν
Iλ (T ) = −Iν (T ) ,
This distribution is dependent on the fre-
dλ
quency and the temperature. For a fixed tem-
and then we can see that Iλ (T ) is not Iν (T ) just perature, as in Figure 1, we can see that there is
substituting the relation between λ and ν. a maximum of emission of the black body. For
2
Explicit calculations are beyond the course.
3
A future course in Quantum Mechanics will solve all your subtle questions.

2
example, the Sun behaves like a very nice natural
black body which temperature is about 5700 K,
and the corresponding maximum is around the
yellow colour into the visible spectrum.
In Figure 2, we can see how the emission de-
pends on the temperature. When the tempera-
ture increases, the peak moves into high frequen-
cies or, in the case of the figure, into low wave-
length. This is obvious if you think on a usual
oven. The fire from an oven is usually red or or-
ange. If the oven is powerful enough, the light
from it will be approaching the blue.
2 Propagation of Radiation
Since radiation is an electromagnetic emission
of a body that can travel through the vacuum,
when the body is completely isolated, like the
Sun or the Earth, and nothing can steal the en-
ergy from the radiation while it crosses the vac-
uum, the total amount of energy stored by the
radiation is conserved. See Figure 3.

Wien’s Displacement Law

This is an experimental observation before
Wien’s Law was discovered. Wien also described
that the maximum of the emission changes lin-
early with the inverse of the temperature like Figure 3: Conservation of the Black Body Flux.
b As you already know, Gauss Law states that
λmax = ,
T the flux of a field F~ : A ⊂ R3 → R3 , F~ ∈ C 1 , A
where b is a constant with value open, satisfies
I Z 
b = 2.898 × 10−3 m · K.

Φ := ~
F · d~s = ∇ · F~ dV,
∂Ω Ω
You can notice it in Figure 2 with a discontinu-
ous line. This can be also proved, and the reader where Ω ⊂ A and ∂Ω := Ω̄ \ Ω. In short words,
is invited to do it in Problem 1 of Section 3. it is telling you that if the content of different
volumes is constant for all of them, then the flux
through the surfaces of those volumes is going to
be constant.
In our case, the radiation is propagating from
the center, where there is a black body emitting.
That radiations is diluted throughout the space
while it is spreading, so there is less radiation
per unit of volume but more volume to store it,
so the global amount is conserved.
By Gauss Law, that picture is the same as
saying that the radiating field generated by the
Figure 2: Dependence on the Temperature and black body is propagating like the electric field of
Wien’s Displacement Law. a positive charge, it is, perfectly perpendicular to
concentric spheres around the charge. The field
Stefan-Boltzmann Law is weaker as it goes away from the center, where
it is created, but the spheres it crosses are bigger,
This is another experimental observation be- so the flux is conserved.
fore Planck’s Law, and it states that the total How does the radiation field per unit of area
power emmited by the black body is proportional decrease then?
to T 4 . That is, integrating Planck’s spectral irra- const
diance over all frequencies or wavelength yields Φ = FRad ASph = const =⇒ FRad = .
ASph
Z ∞
As much as the surfaces of the spheres increases,
P =A dνIν (T ) = σAT 4 ,
0 it is, proportional to the of the area A of the
where A is the area of the black-body and σ is spheres.
the Stefan-Boltzmann constant In case of the existence of a medium of prop-
W agation that steal energy this law must include
σ = 5.67 × 10−8 2 4 . the terms of losses.
m K

3
3 Problems for Class
1. Prove Rayleigh-Jeans Law from Planck’s Law.

2. A sodium lamp of 100 W emits approximately in a monochromatic wavelength of 600 nm.

(a) What is the rate of the photons emitted by the lamp?

(b) Is the rate of a lamp of 100 W but with a wavelength of 1000 nm bigger? Add reason.

3. (a) Vega is the star of reference for astrophysical catalogues. Its total power emitted is written
in terms of the total power emitted by the Sun

PVega = 40.12P , P = 3.828 × 1026 W.

Its radius in terms of the radius of the Sun is

RVega = 2.362R , R = 6.957 × 105 km.

With all this information, what is the apparent colour of Vega? Looking at the spectrum
in Figure 4, can we say that Vega behaves like a perfect black body?
(b) Gamma Cassiopeiae is another star but its properties are

PγC = 34000P , and RγC = 10R .

What is the colour of Gamma Cassiopeiae? Looking at the spectrum in Figure 5, can we
say that it behaves like a perfect black body?
(c) Explain the small peaks that appear in both spectra. Data: dVega-Earth = 25 ly, and
dγC-Earth = 550 ly.

4. Obtain the total energy emitted by a person, and the maximum wavelength of his emission.
What region of the electromagnetic spectrum is it?

5. If the received irradiance per unit of surface over the Earth is 1367 W/m2 , calculate the
temperature of the Sun knowing that the solar radius is R = 7 × 105 km and the distance
from the Sun is dT = 1.5 × 108 km. What is the total radiation received by Earth from the
Sun? The radius of the Earth is REarth = 6370 km.

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 Figure 4: Spectrum of Vega.

Figure 5: Spectrum of Gamma Cassiopeiae.

5
4 Problems for Home [Points: 2,2,1]
Extra! Stefan-Boltzmann Law
Prove Stefan-Boltzmann Law.
Notes:
1. Numerical methods to solve integrals can
be applied if needed... and you will.
A photograph of the numerical method
and an explanation of how you applied
a perfect black body with average temper-
ature T = 15 o C.
(b) Compare the irradiance at λmax of the
Earth using the exact Planck’s Law,
Wien’s Law and Rayleigh-Jeans Law. Ex-
plain the results.
(c) Compute the total power emission per
unit area [W/m2 ] of the Earth.
(d) What is the irradiance per unit of area by
it is required to obtain the points!
2. Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha or any
other symbolic program are not allowed.
3. Is Greta Physicist?
1. Calculations are Funny
(a) Prove Wien’s Law in terms of λ.
(b) Prove that a body like the Sun with a
temperature of 5700 K emits maximally
around the yellow into the visible spec-
trum. Add reason why in the theory is
said that the Sun emits around yellow.
(c) Prove that Wien’s Displacement Law is
true. Use anything you need. [Note: This
problem is too hard. I am not taking it
into account, but I add it because it is an
usual problem on the subject.]
(d) Prove Wien’s Law from Planck’s Law.
2. Earth is a Nice Place to Live on
(a) Calculate the maximum wavelength of the
emission of the Earth if one consider it as
Figure 6: Irradiance of the Sun detected outside the atmosphere and the Irradiance of the Sun
detected at sea level.
the Earth at the distance of the Sun dT =
1.5 × 108 km? Data: REarth = 6.37 × 106 m.
See Figure 6. Answer: [Short answers, be pre-
cise.]
(a) Why the curve for a black body of T ∼
6000 K does not fit perfectly to the irradi-
ance of the Sun? Is it fair to say that the
Sun behaves like a black body comparing
its spectrum with the spectrum of other
stars?
(b) What are the differences of the irradiance
outside the atmosphere and at sea level?
Why? Does it give you a clue why our hu-
man eyes are most efficient detecting green
and yellow than any other colour?
(c) What would be the main effect over the
surface of the Earth if the gasses of the
atmosphere disappear or are reduced sig-
nificantly? What about the effect due to
O3 ?