fig:1 ‘lava’ fig:2 ‘electric bulb’ fig:3 ‘infra-red photograph

•Blackbody problem:one of the major challenges of theoretical physics towards

the end of nineteenth century was derive an expression for the spectrum of
electromagnetic radiation emitted by an object .Thermal radiation is the emission of
electromagnetic waves from all matter that has a temperature greater than absolute
zero.
•Black body spectrum:

fig:6 energy distribution

curve of a black body
•Properties of energy distribution curve:
1. black body spectrum is continuous
at each temperature

2. at a temperature,area enclosed
by λ-axis is equal to total emissive
power,according to stefan’s law
‘’total emissive power E is directly
proportional to forth power of
of absolute temperature of body’’
E=σT4, σ is called stefan’s constant
whose value is 5.67×10-8 wm-2k-4
3. emissivity Eλ increases rapidly with
temperature Eλ =kT5
fig: energy distribution curve
4. as temperature of body increases the peak of curve shift towards
the shorter wavelengths (wien’s displacement law)
and wavelength λm corresponding to the maximum emissivity is
Inversely proportional to absolute temperature T of the body
and where b is called wien’s constant its value is 2.88×10 -3 meter×kelvin
this is very important law as it law help us to find the temperature
of stars
i.e. for sun λm =475nm and from
wein’s formula λmT=b then we get
T=6050k, it means temperature
sun’s surface is 6050k
Planck’s hypothesis: In 1900, to successfully explain the black body

spectrum German physicist max Planck propounded

quantum theory according to Planck, the emission and
absorption of Light or EM-Radiation is not continuous,
but it is in form of packets called photon of definite energy
E=hυ and definite momentum p=hυ/c where
h is Planck's constant whose value is 6.62×10-23 J.s
υ is frequency of radiation and c is speed of light
thus, the energy emitted or absorbed by a body is an integer
multiple of hυ on the basis of above hypothesis, the average energy
corresponding to each of vibration at frequency υ and absolute
Temperature T is not kT, but it is givem by the following relation
Thus, the following relation was given
by planck to explain black body
spectrum.The above expression changes
into wien’s law at low temperature
and wavelength,while it changes to
rayleigh-jean law high wavelengths fig:8 Black body spectrum
and high temperature
2) Compton effect:
Compton in 1923, while studying the scattering of X-rays by a block
of paraffin, observed that the wavelength of scattered radiation
was greater than the wavelength of incident radiation and the
shift in wavelength was dependent on the angle of the scattering.
This effect is called Compton effect.
Compton explained phenomenon
on the basis of quantum theory
Compton assumed that in the pro
-cess of scattering, in which the
both energy and momentum is
conserved according to planck’s
hypothesis,E=hυ and p=hυ/c
There is an elastic collision between the incident photon and the free electron
of the scatterer, in which the both energy and momentum conserved,when
photon falls on scatterer, it imparts
some of its energy and momenta to the free electron as result,
the energy and momentum of photon decreases i.e wavelength of photon
increases, thus emitted is called recoiled electron
and increase in wavelength is called ‘Compton shift’ Δλ given by

where λC =h/mec is called Compton wavelength of electron

whose value is 2.426×10-12 m
3) Bohr’s atomic model : in 1913, Bohr propounded a model with the
help of Quantum theory, postulates:
1) Electron revolves only in some specific orbits.These orbits are
called non-radiating orbits or the stationary orbits. Coulomb force
provide required centripetal force.
2) Electron can revole only in those orbits in which its angular
momentum about the nucleus is an integer multiple of h/2π
if m is mass electron and v , r are velocity and radius of electron
respectively, mvr= nh/2π, where n =1,2,3,....(an integer)
3) if an electron suffers transition from nth orbit to the pth orbit
(n>p) the frequency υ of the radiation emitted is given as
En-Ep=hυ, where En and Ep are energy of nthand pth orbits
respectively and υ is frequency of emitted radiation, h is planck’s constant
whose value is 6.626×1034j.s
4) Photoelectric Effect :
The photoelectric effect is an effect where weakly bound electrons within metals
are ejected from the material when electromagnetic radiation interacts with those
electrons. The ejected electrons are known as the photoelectrons. There are
several important experimental observations relevant to the photoelectric effect.
Some of them are;
1. The maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons (for a given material)
depends only on the frequency of light.
2. The kinetic energies of photoelectrons are not dependent on the intensity of
3. There is a threshold frequency (cut-off frequency) which depends on the
material. Light frequencies below the threshold frequency cannot produce
photoelectrons.
4. The number of photoelectrons produced in the process is proportional to the
intensity of light; higher the intensity, higher the number of photoelectrons.
Photoelectrons are ejected immediately after the material is illuminated.
The classical theory of electromagnetism cannot explain the above experimental
observations (except the fourth observation). So, Albert Einstein developed a
revolutionary theory to explain the photoelectric effect. He used the quantization
idea of the electromagnetic radiation in his theory. According to his theory, light
consists of energy packets or energy quanta called photons. They are absorbed or
produced as units of energy packets. Simply, fractional energy packets do not exist.
The energy (E) associated with a photon is given by; E= hυ where, h = Planck’s
constant and υ =Frequency of the electromagnetic wave.
His theory suggests that the energy of a photon is completely acquired by a single
electron in the metal. The electron spends a certain amount of energy (work function
of the material) to liberate from its binding in the material. The electron comes out
from the material as a liberated electron which is called a photoelectron. Normally,
the electron loses some amount of its energy due to the interaction with other
electrons in the surroundings on its way. The remaining energy of the electron
appears as its kinetic energy. However, the energy is conserved in the process. So, the
conservation of energy gives the relationship between the frequency of the incident
photon and the kinetic energy of the photoelectron. It can be expressed as; hυ = Ф +
(K.E) where, Ф = work function of the material and K.E- Kinetic energy is of the
photoelectron.