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Quantum Mechanics Lecture Notes 1

Planck assumed energy is quantized and that energy of oscillators can only take discrete values. Wein's law is applicable for short wavelengths while Rayleigh-Jeans law is applicable for higher wavelengths. Planck's law of radiation gives the mathematical relationship between a blackbody's spectral energy distribution and radiation.

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48 views6 pages

Quantum Mechanics Lecture Notes 1

Planck assumed energy is quantized and that energy of oscillators can only take discrete values. Wein's law is applicable for short wavelengths while Rayleigh-Jeans law is applicable for higher wavelengths. Planck's law of radiation gives the mathematical relationship between a blackbody's spectral energy distribution and radiation.

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LECTURE 1

This topic is mapped with CO1 and CO2 of the course

PLANCK’S RADIATION LAW

1.1 INTRODUCTION

• It also forms the basis for the contemporary understanding of how very large
objects such as stars and galaxies, and cosmological events such as the Big Bang,
can be analyzed and explained.
• Quantum mechanics is the foundation of several related disciplines including
nanotechnology, condensed matter physics, quantum chemistry, structural
biology, particle physics, and electronics.
• The term "quantum mechanics" was first coined by Max Born in 1924.
• The acceptance by the general physics community of quantum mechanics is due
to its accurate prediction of the physical behaviour of systems, including systems
where Newtonian mechanics fails.

Even general relativity is limited -- in ways quantum mechanics is not -- for


describing systems at the atomic scale or smaller, at very low or very high
energies, or at the lowest temperatures.

Through a century of experimentation and applied science, quantum mechanical


theory has proven to be very successful and practical.

1.2 PLANCK’S RADIATION LAW

It gives mathematical relationship formulated in 1900 by German physicist max


Planck to explain the spectral-energy distribution of radiation emitted by a
blackbody (a hypothetical body that completely absorbs all radiant energy falling
upon it, reaches some equilibrium temperature, and then reemits that energy as
quickly as it absorbs it).

• Planck assumed that the sources of radiation are atoms in a state of


oscillation and that the vibrational energy of each oscillator may have any of
a series of discrete values but never any value between.
• Planck further assumed that when an oscillator changes from a state of
energy E1 to a state of lower energy E2, the discrete amount of energy E1 −
E2, or quantum of radiation, is equal to the product of the frequency of the
radiation, symbolized by the Greek letter ν and a constant h, now called
Planck’s constant, that he determined from blackbody radiation data; i.e.,
E1– E2= hν.

Planck‘s law for the energy Eλ radiated per unit volume by a cavity of a
blackbody in the wavelength interval λ to λ + Δλ (Δλ denotes an increment of
wavelength) can be written in terms of Planck‘s constant (h), the speed of light
(c), the Boltzmann constant(k), and the absolute temperature (T):

The wavelength of the emitted radiation is inversely proportional to its frequency,


or λ = c/ν. The value of Planck‘s constant is found to be 6.62606957 × 10−34
joule second, with a standard uncertainty of 0.00000029 × 10−34 joule second.

For a blackbody at temperatures up to several hundred degrees, the majority of


the radiation is in the infrared radiation region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
At higher temperatures, the total radiated energy increases, and the intensity peak
of the emitted spectrum shifts to shorter wavelengths so that a significant portion
is radiated as visible light.

1.2.1Wien's displacement law

It states that the black body radiation curve for different temperatures peaks at a
wavelength inversely proportional to the temperature. The shift of that peak is a
direct consequence of the Planck radiation law which describes the spectral
brightness of black body radiation as a function of wavelength at any given
temperature. However, it had been discovered by Wilhelm Wien several years
before Max Planck developed that more general equation, and describes the entire
shift of the spectrum of black body radiation toward shorter wavelengths as
temperature increases.

Formally, Wien's displacement law states that the spectral radiance of black body
radiation per unit wavelength, peaks at the wavelength λmax given by:

ΛmAX = b/T
where T is the absolute temperature in kelvins. b is a
constant of proportionality called Wien's displacement constant, equal to
2.8977729(17)×10−3 m⋅K, or more conveniently to obtain wavelength in
micrometers, b ≈ 2900 μm·K. If one is considering the peak of black body
emission per unit frequency or per proportional bandwidth, one must use a
different proportionality constant

. However, the form of the law remains the same: the peak wavelength is inversely
proportional to temperature (or the peak frequency is directly proportional to
temperature).

• Wein’s law is applicable for short wavelength

Here C1=8πhc ,C2= hc/k


Figure 1: Variation of intensity with wavelength

1.2.2RAYLEIGH JEANS LAW

The Rayleigh-Jeans Radiation Law was a useful but not completely successful
attempt at establishing the functional form of the spectra of thermal radiation. The
energy density uν per unit frequency interval at a frequency ν is, according to the
Rayleigh-Jeans Radiation,

U λ=8πkT/ λ5

where k is Boltzmann's constant, T is the absolute temperature of the radiating


body and c is the speed of light in a vacuum. This formula fits the empirical
measurements for low frequencies but fails increasingly for higher frequencies.
The failure of the formula to match the new data was called the ultraviolet
catastrophe. The significance of this inadequate so-called law is that it provides
an asymptotic condition which other proposed formulas, such as Planck's, need
to satisfy. It gives a value to an otherwise arbitrary constant in Planck's thermal
radiation formula.
Figure 2: Rayleigh Jeans’ law for higher wavelength [2]

SUMMARY

• Planck assumed energy in quantised manner.


• Wein’s law is applicable for short wavelength.
• Rayleigh’s Jeans is applicable for higher wavelength.

Practice questions

1. What is black body?


2. Write the assumptions of Planck’s Law of Radiation.
3. Draw the graph for Rayleigh’s Jeans law.

References

1. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/wien.html
2. http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/mod6.html
3. https://physics.info/planck/
4. https://nptel.ac.in/content/storage2/courses/122101002/downloads/lec-23.pdf

Video link

1. https://nptel.ac.in/courses/115/104/115104096/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVN09TdSHHg

Books

1. Concepts of Modern Physics, (Fifth Edition) A Beiser, McGraw Hill


International.

2. Fundamentals of Physics, David Halliday, Robert Resnick and Jearl Walker,


Wileyplus

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