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Black Body Radiations, and

Planck’s Quantum Theory of
Radiation.

Black Body Radiation.

Planck’s Quantum Theory of Radiation

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- Black Body Radiations.

Introduction:

• I selected this topic as I found it to be really interesting as well as I wanted to find out

that how a phenomena like this could exist in real world, and the science behind it.

• Based on my research, I found out that 1‘A Black Body is an ideal body which absorbs

and emits all frequencies.’, in simpler terms it is a hypothetical object which is a perfect

absorber, and a perfect emitter of radiation over all wavelengths.

History:

In 1800, astronomer William Herschel performed an experiment where he created a

spectrum of light with a prism and measured the temperature at different parts of the

spectrum. He found that the temperature varied throughout the spectrum, which implies

that thermal radiation is related to light waves. He also found that the temperature varied

throughout the spectrum, which implies that thermal radiation is related to light waves.

The next innovator in the research of blackbody radiation was Balfour Stewart, who

compared the intensity of radiation of lamp-black surfaces with the intensity of radiation

from non-black sources at the same temperature. He found that the lamp-black surfaces

had the greatest absorption of radiation, as well as the greatest intensity of radiation from

themselves.

Theory:

Max Planck in 1900 found the function that determines the ratio between the emission

and absorption of a black body. His formula showed that radiation increases universally

for every wavelength as temperature increases, and that the wavelength which

corresponds to the highest radiation decreases as temperature increases

1Elert, Glenn. “Blackbody Radiation – The Physics Hypertextbook.” Free Fall – The Physics
Hypertextbook, physics.info/planck/.
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The second law of thermodynamics states that a body always tries to remain in thermal

equilibrium, so to stay in a thermal equilibrium a black body must emit radiation at the

same sate it absorbs it. This means emitting electromagnetic waves of all the frequencies

that it can absorb.

The Planck’s radiation law states that various electromagnetic radiations emitted by a

black body at thermal equilibrium at a fixed temperature. This law led to the discovery

that radiation emitted by a body is completely independent of the body’s shape, size or

composition and is dependent only on the temperature of the body.

Wien’s

Displacement law,

explained the shift

of the peaks of the

curve in terms of

temperature.

Diagram 1.1 - ‘Pointers, Quantum Laser. “Black Body Radiation Explained.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 Nov. 2016,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnmCsNQsR68.'

This law states that the blackbody radiation curve for different temperatures peaks at a

corresponding wavelength which is inversely proportional to that temperature.

This is given by the equation:

“λmax = b/T” where ’T’ is temperature and ‘b’ is a proportionality constant known as

Wien’s displacement constant which is equal to 2.8977*10^-3mK.

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An example of Wien’s displacement law in real life is of a Campfire. We can easily deuce

that a wood fire which is approximately 1500K hot, gives out a peak radiation at 2000 nm.

This means that majority of the radiation from the wood fire is beyond human eye’s

visibility. This is why a camp fire is an excellent source of warmth but a very poor source

of light.

- Planck’s quantum theory of Radiation:

Introduction:

• I selected this topic because I found the fact the energy behaves both as waves and

particles very strange as well as interesting simultaneously and so wanted to find the

reason behind the same. Secondly when researching about black body radiations, I

came across this topic and it is a partial explanation of the phenomena of black body

radiations and therefore chose to present it as a part of this report

History:

Max Planck, a German physicist, is best known as the originator of the quantum theory of

energy for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918. His work contributed

significantly to the understanding of atomic and subatomic processes.

Theory:

By 20th century, scientists discovered that laws of classical mechanics were not

applicable on an atomic scale, so they articulated a set of new theories now known as

quantum mechanics.

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Radiation is the form of energy that can be transferred from one point to another in space.

Absorption emission of radiant energy does not take place continuously but it takes place

in form of packets of energy called quanta. A Quantum of light is called a photon.

The distance between 2 consecutive crests or troughs is called as wavelength (measured

in metres). The number of waves passing though any point in unit time (1 sec) is known as

frequency (measured in Hertz). Lastly the distance travelled by the wave is called the

velocity of the wave, detonated by ‘c’ (measured in metres/second).

2Quantum theory was given by Max Planck in 1900, it postulated that Absorption and

Emission of radiant energy doesn’t take place continuously but it takes place in form of

packets of energy called quanta, and so a ‘Quantum of light’ is called a ‘Photon’. It also

stated that each quanta has definite amount of energy which depends on the frequency

of its radiation. This lead to the equation 3 ‘E=h*v’ where

'E’ is energy of a photon in Joules,

‘v’ is frequency of light in Hz, and

‘h’ is Planck’s constant with a value of 6.626*10^-34 J*s. (4 Planck’s constant is one of the

most accurately known fundamental constants in science.)

2“Max Planck's Quantum Theory: Concept and Important Assumptions.” Redefining Knowledge,

22 Apr. 2018, hemantmore.org.in/foundation/science/chemistry/plancks-quantum-theory/1309/.

3“Blackbody Radiation | COSMOS.” Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing,

astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/b/blackbody+radiation.

4Libretexts. “4.2: Planck's Quantum Theory.” Chemistry LibreTexts, National Science Foundation,
23 Feb. 2019, chem.libretexts.org/Courses/University_of_California_Davis/
UCD_Chem_107B%3A_Physical_Chemistry_for_Life_Scientists/Chapters/
4%3A_Quantum_Theory/4.02%3A_Planck's_Quantum_Theory.

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Max Planck stated that for each temperature, there is a maximum intensity of radiation

that is emitted in a blackbody object, as seen in the diagram 1.1. At low temperatures,

radiation with only relatively low frequencies is emitted, corresponding to low-energy

quanta. As the temperature of an object increases, there is an increased probability of

emitting radiation with higher frequencies, corresponding to higher-energy quanta. 

- Conclusion:
Through this process, I found the science behind black body radiation, and how it is

applicable in real life, and it's theoretical explanation. I also was able to understand and

comprehend the graph, along with Wien’s law, which played an important part in this

phenomena. I also understood why light behaves both as a wave and particles, and the

Plank’s equation and constant, used to find energy of a photon.

- Webliography:
I. Elert, Glenn. “Blackbody Radiation – The Physics Hypertextbook.” Free Fall –

The Physics Hypertextbook, physics.info/planck/.

II. “Max Planck's Quantum Theory: Concept and Important

Assumptions.” Redefining Knowledge, 22 Apr. 2018, hemantmore.org.in/

foundation/science/chemistry/plancks-quantum-theory/1309/.

III. “Blackbody Radiation | COSMOS.” Centre for Astrophysics and

Supercomputing, astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/b/blackbody+radiation.

IV. Libretexts. “4.2: Planck's Quantum Theory.” Chemistry LibreTexts, National

Science Foundation, 23 Feb. 2019, chem.libretexts.org/Courses/

University_of_California_Davis/
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UCD_Chem_107B%3A_Physical_Chemistry_for_Life_Scientists/Chapters/

4%3A_Quantum_Theory/4.02%3A_Planck's_Quantum_Theory.

V. “History.” Blackbody Radiation, blackbodyradiation.weebly.com/history.html.