QUANTUM PHYSICS

Black Body Radiation A hot body emits thermal radiations which depend on composition and the temperature of the body. The ability of the body to radiate is closely related to its ability to absorb radiation. A Body which is capable of absorbing almost all the radiations incident on it is called a black body. A perfectly black-body can absorb the entire radiations incident on it. Platinum black and Lamp black can absorb almost all the radiations incident on them. Emissive power of a black body: It is defined as the total energy radiated per second from the unit surface area of a black body maintained at certain temperature. Absorptive power of a black body: It is defined as the ratio of the total energy absorbed by the black body to the amount of radiant energy incident on it in a given time interval. The absorptive power of a perfectly black body is 1. Spectral Distribution of energy in thermal radiation (Black Body radiation spectrum) A good absorber of radiation is also a good emitter. Hence when a black body is heated it emits radiations. In practice a black body can be realized with the emission of Ultraviolet, Visible and infrared wavelengths on heating a body. German physicists Lummer and Pringsheim studied the energy density as a function of wavelength for different temperatures of a black body using a spectrograph and a plot is made. This is called Black Body radiation spectrum.

The Salient features of black body radiation spectrum are as below 1) The energy density increases with wavelength then takes a maximum value Em for a particular wavelength m and then decrease to a value zero for longer wavelengths. Hence the Energy distribution in the spectrum is not uniform 2) As the Temperature increases the Wavelength (m) corresponding to the maximum emission energy (Em) shifts towards shorter wavelength side. Thus the m is inversely proportional to temperature (T) and is called Weins Displacement Law. Mathematically . Here b is Weins Constant of value 2.898x10-3 mK.

3) The total energy emitted by the black body at a given temperature is given by the area under the curve and is proportional to the fourth power of temperature. This is called Stefans law of radiation. Mathematically E = T4 here is the Stefans constant of value 5.67 x 10-8 Wm2K-4. Explanation of Black Body Radiation Spectrum Classical Theories Weins Distribution Law: In the year 1893 Wein using thermodynamics showed that the energy emitted per unit volume in the wavelength range and +d

Here C1 and C2 are empirical constants. A suitable selection for these constants helps to explain the experimental curve in the shorter wavelength region. The drawback of this law is it fails to explain the curve in the longer wavelength region. Also according to this equation the energy density at high temperatures tends to zero which contradicts experimental observations.

Rayleigh-Jeans Law: British Physicists Lord Rayleigh and James Jeans made an attempt to explain the Black Body radiation spectrum Based on the concepts formation of standing electromagnetic waves and the law of equipartition of energy. According to this law the energy density of radiation is given by

Here k is Boltzmann constant with value 1.38 x 10-23 JK-1. This law successfully explains the energy distribution of the black body radiation in the longer wavelength region. According to this law black body is expected to radiate large amount of energy in the shorter wavelength region thus leading to no energy available for emission in the longer wavelength region. Experimental observations show that the most of the emissions of the black body radiation occur in the visible and infrared regions. This discrepancy is called Ultraviolet Catastrophe.

Quantum theory of radiation Plancks law of radiation: German physicist Max Plank successfully explained the energy distribution in the black body radiation based on the following assumptions 1) The surface of the black body contains oscillators 2) These oscillators absorb or emit energy in terms of integral multiples of discrete packets called quanta or photons. The energy E of photons is proportional to the frequency of the radiation. Mathematically E=nh here h is a constant called Plancks constant and its value is 6.625 x 10-34 Js, and n can take integer values 3) At thermal equilibrium the rate of absorption and emission of radiation are equal. According to Plancks law of radiation the expression for energy density of radiation is given by

Where c is the velocity of light, k is Boltzmann constant and h is Plancks constant. This law explains the distribution of energy in the black body radiation spectrum completely for all wavelengths and at all temperatures. Also this law can be reduced to Weins distribution law in the shorter wavelength region and to Rayleigh-Jeans law in the longer wavelength region. Deduction of Weins law, Rayleigh-Jeans law from Plancks law

(i) For shorter wavelengths,

is very large

If is very large, i.e.,

is very large

.(1)

Using Plancks equation,

, by substituting equation (1) Where,

(ii) For longer wavelengths,
If is very small, i.e., Now expand We have,

and
is small, is very small

as power series

.....

(Since

is very small, higher power terms could be neglected)

Again using Plancks equation, is reduced to This is known as Rayleigh-Jeans law Photo-Electric effect The emission of electrons from the surface of certain materials when radiation of suitable frequency is incident on it is called the phenomenon of PhotoElectric effect. The electrons emitted are called photo electrons and the material is said to be photo sensitive. This was discovered in the 1887 by Henrich Hertz.

The experimental observations of photoelectric effect are 1) Photo electrons are emitted instantaneously as soon as the radiation is incident 2) Photo electric emission occurs only if the frequency of the incident radiation is greater than a certain value called Threshold frequency. 3) The kinetic energy acquired by photo electrons is directly proportional to the frequency of the incident radiation and is independent of the intensity. 4) The number of photoelectrons emitted depends on the intensity of the incident radiation and is independent of the frequency. Photoelectric effect signifies the particle nature of radiation. Einsteins explanation of the photo electric effect When metal is illuminated with radiation of suitable frequency, the photons of the radiation interact with electrons in the metal. When a photon interacts with an electron, the electron absorbs it and the photon vanishes. The energy acquired by the electron from the photon is made use in two stages. A part of the energy is used by the electron to free itself from the metal since it is bound within metal. Thus some minimum amount of energy is required for the electron just to escape from the metal is called Work Function (). The rest of the energy is carried by the electron as Kinetic Energy (KE). Since the energy of the photon is h the photoelectric effect satisfies the following equation This is called Photoelectric Equation. Here is the frequency of the incident radiation

Here

is the threshold frequency and v is the velocity of electron and m

the mass. Thus from the photoelectric equation, if the frequency of the radiation < no photoelectrons are emitted. Compton Effect The phenomenon of scattering of X-rays from suitable material and hence increase in its wavelength is called Compton Effect.

When X-rays are incident on certain materials they are scattered and the scattered X-rays contain two components. One component has the same wavelength as the incident X-ray and the other with wavelength greater than the incident X-rays. This is due to the scattering of X-ray photons from the electrons present in the material. Due to the transfer of energy from X-ray photon to electron the wavelength of X-ray increases and the electron recoils. This can be treated as collision between two particles. Thus Compton Effect signifies particle nature of radiation. The change in wavelength which is also called Compton Shift is given by

Here is the wavelength of incident X-rays and is the wavelength of scattered Xray is the scattering angle and m0 is the rest mass of electron. The quantity is called Compton Wavelength. Experimental verification A beam of monochromatic X-rays are allowed to fall on a graphite crystal as shown in the figure. The intensity of the scattered X-rays is measure as a function of wavelength of X-rays, at different scattering angles. At each angle, two peaks appear corresponding to scattered X-ray photons with two different wavelengths. The wavelength of one peak does not change as the as the angle is varied. This is called primary or unmodified component. We denote it by . The wavelength of the

other peak varies strongly with the angle and hence it is called modified component. Ii is denoted by . This effect is called Compton effect. The change in wavelength is called Compton shift.