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Classical Theory of Radiation

A black body is an object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation incident upon it. To remain in thermal equilibrium, a black body must emit radiation at the same rate as it absorbs radiation. A cavity with a small hole that absorbs any light entering the cavity acts as a nearly perfect black body. Kirchhoff's law states that the ratio between the emissive power and absorptive power of a body at a given wavelength is the same for all bodies at the same temperature and equals the emissive power of a black body at that temperature. The Stefan-Boltzmann law states that the total radiation emitted per unit area of a black body is directly proportional to the fourth power of the black body's thermodynamic temperature.

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144 views34 pages

Classical Theory of Radiation

A black body is an object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation incident upon it. To remain in thermal equilibrium, a black body must emit radiation at the same rate as it absorbs radiation. A cavity with a small hole that absorbs any light entering the cavity acts as a nearly perfect black body. Kirchhoff's law states that the ratio between the emissive power and absorptive power of a body at a given wavelength is the same for all bodies at the same temperature and equals the emissive power of a black body at that temperature. The Stefan-Boltzmann law states that the total radiation emitted per unit area of a black body is directly proportional to the fourth power of the black body's thermodynamic temperature.

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satyachaudhuri47
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Classical theory of radiation

A black body is one that absorbs all the electromagnetic


radiation that strikes it. To stay in thermal equilibrium, it must
emit radiation at the same rate as it absorbs it.
A good example of a black body is a cavity with a small hole in it.
Any light incident upon the hole goes into the cavity and is
essentially never reflected out since it would have to undergo a
very large number of reflections off walls of the cavity. If we
make the walls absorptive, the cavity makes a perfect black body.
Analogy between black body radiation & ideal gas

• Assembly of molecules in random motion with all possible


velocities ⟷ radiation with all possible wavelengths
• Exert pressure
• Molecules have k.e. ⟷ photons have energy ℎν
• Internal energy of gas ⟷ energy density of radiation
Emissive power – The emissive power 𝑒𝜆 of a body for radiation
of wavelength between λ and λ + dλ is the amount of radiation
emitted per unit area of the body per second normally in unit
solid angle.
∞
Total emissivity E = ‫׬‬0 𝑒𝜆 𝑑𝜆

Absorptive power – If 𝑑𝑄𝜆 be the amount of radiant energy


falling on a body in the form of radiation in the wavelength range
λ and λ + dλ and a fraction 𝑎𝜆 𝑑𝑄𝜆 of it is absorbed by the body
and converted to heat, then 𝑎𝜆 is defined as the absorptive
power of the body for wavelength range λ to λ + dλ.
Kirchhoff’s law

• The ratio of emissive power to the absorptive power for


radiation of a given wavelength is same for all bodies at the
same temperature and is equal to the emissive power of a
perfectly black body at that temperature.

𝑒𝜆
= constant = (𝑒𝜆 )𝑏.𝑏.
𝑎𝜆
Proof
Since 𝑒𝜆 and 𝑎𝜆 depend on the nature of the body and its
temperature only and not upon the surroundings.
𝐸𝜆 = 𝐸𝜆 ′

If 𝑎𝜆 = 1, ( 𝑒𝜆 )𝑏.𝑏. = 1. 𝐸𝜆

𝑒𝜆
Hence, = 𝐸𝜆 = ( 𝑒𝜆 )𝑏.𝑏.
𝑎𝜆
Energy density of radiation in a uniformly
heated enclosure
Pressure & energy density of radiation
Energy density of b.b. radiation is proportional to fourth power
of its absolute temperature
Stefan-Boltzmann law

“The amount of radiation emitted per unit area per unit time
from an enclosure is directly proportional to the fourth power of
the temperature of the enclosure in absolute scale”.
𝑄 = 𝜎𝑇 4
Proof
Energy distribution in b. b. radiation spectrum
Study of energy distribution amongst the different wavelengths using only the laws of
classical thermodynamics and electromagnetism (before the advent of Planck’s
quantum theory) were made by Wien, Rayleigh, Jeans and others.
Wien’s displacement law - Proof
Wien’s energy distribution law - Proof
Wien determined the form of the function 𝑓 and the result was
−ℎ𝑐
8𝜋ℎ𝑐
𝑢𝜆 𝑑𝜆 = 𝑒 𝑘𝜆𝑇 𝑑𝜆
𝜆5
This is Wien’s distribution law.
Rayleigh-Jeans law
• Rayleigh considered an enclosure with perfectly reflecting
walls and filled up with radiation. On reflection from the walls,
the radiation waves produced stationary waves. He calculated
the possible independent modes of vibration per unit volume
for wavelength 𝜆 𝑡𝑜 𝜆 + 𝑑𝜆. Hence he showed that the energy
associated per unit volume for all modes of vibration in the
spectral region 𝜆 𝑡𝑜 𝜆 + 𝑑𝜆 is given by
8𝜋𝑘𝐵 𝑇
𝑢𝜆 𝑑𝜆 = 𝑑𝜆
𝜆4
This is Rayleigh-Jeans law.
−ℎ𝑐
8𝜋ℎ𝑐
• Wien’s law : 𝑢𝜆 𝑑𝜆 = 𝑒 𝑘𝜆𝑇 𝑑𝜆
𝜆5
8𝜋𝑘𝐵 𝑇
• Rayleigh-Jeans law : 𝑢𝜆 𝑑𝜆 = 𝑑𝜆
𝜆4
𝜆 →0 𝜆→∞
𝑢𝜆 𝑑𝜆 if integrated from 0 to ∞ , assuming
continuous emission of radiation, the total
energy (except for T=0K) tends to infinity.
Ultraviolet catastrophe

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