MOMENTO 1

Boltzmann´s derivation of the blackbody´s emittance law

La deducción de Boltzmann de la ley de emitancia del cuerpo

negro

Daniel C. Fajardo1
1
(Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia)

Abstract

A historical reconstruction of the original derivation of Stefan-Boltzmann´s

law is presented under the scope of the theories that characterized
nineteenth-century physics. Considering Gustav Kirchhoff´s formulation of
the blackbody problem and the following contributions done by James C.
Maxwell, Adolfo Bartoli, and Josef Stefan, a thermodynamical analysis of
electromagnetic radiation- such as the one performed by Ludwig
Boltzmann- is carried out by means of an infinitesimal Carnot cycle.
Finally, the independence of the fourth-power law of electrodynamical
theories is highlighted, as well as the importance of an anthropological
approach to physics education.

Keywords: Thermodynamics, History of Physics, Radiation

Resumen

Una reconstrucción histórica de la deducción original de la ley de Stefan-

Boltzmann se presenta bajo el alcance de las teorías que caracterizaron la
física del siglo XIX. Considerando la formulación de Gustav Kirchhoff del
problema del cuerpo negro y las siguientes contribuciones hechas por James
C. Maxwell, Adolfo Bartoli y Josef Stefan, un análisis termodinámico de la
radiación electromagnética -como el realizado por Ludwig Boltzmann- se
lleva a cabo mediante un ciclo de Carnot infinitesimal. Finalmente, se
destaca la independencia de la ley de la cuarta potencia de las teorías
electrodinámicas, así como la importancia de un enfoque antropológico para
la enseñanza de la física.

Palabras Clave: Termodinámica, Historia de la física, Radiación

Daniel C. Fajardo: dafajardov@unal.edu.co

2 Daniel C. Fajardo

Introduction

In 1860 Gustav Kirchhoff defined blackbodies as physical bodies that

“completely absorb all incident rays, and neither reflect nor transmit any. ”
Kirchhoff also formulated in the same paper what is now known as
“Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation”, which states that “for a body of any
arbitrary material emitting and absorbing thermal electromagnetic radiation
at every wavelength in thermodynamic equilibrium, the ratio of its emissive
power to its dimensionless coefficient of absorption is equal to a universal
function only of radiative wavelength and temperature.” Additionally, he
noted that the universal function describes the perfect blackbody emissive
power. With his investigations on the radiative properties of materials
Kirchhoff gave birth to one of the most challenging problems in the history
of physics: finding the function that describes the spectral emittance of a
blackbody.

Thirteen years later, Maxwell published his famous Treatise on Electricity

and Magnetism, which contained an intriguing result: according to
Maxwell´s laws, electromagnetic radiation must exert pressure. The Italian
physicist Adolfo Bartoli arrived to the same conclusion in 1876 using only
thermodynamical considerations; for the second law of thermodynamics to
remain valid light must possess linear momentum, it should exert pressure.
Both Maxwell and Bartoli calculated its value, identifying the radiative
pressure (𝑃) with the energy density of the electromagnetic field (𝑢).

Guided by the experiments performed by Dulong, Thérèse and Tyndall,

Josef Stefan proposed in 1879 the equation 𝑅 = 𝜎𝑇 4, which related the
emittance of a blackbody (𝑅) with the fourth power of its equilibrium
temperature (𝑇) through a constant 𝜎. The function that described
blackbody´s emissive power was yet to be found but its integration over all
the electromagnetic spectrum had been successfully obtained, exhibiting
only a dependence of temperature. The algebraic relation proposed by
Stefan seemed to match the experimental results to a high degree of
accuracy but it had not been derived theoretically, a task that was undertook
by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1884.

Theoretical discussion

Inspired by Bartoli´s treatment of electromagnetic radiation, Boltzmann

considered light as a gas that could undergo a Carnot cycle, an idea that led
him to successfully derive Stefan´s law. I will present here a modern version
Blackbody´s emmitance law 3

of Boltzmann´s derivation of Stefan´s law applying an infinitesimal Carnot

cycle to radiation and using the relation between electromagnetic pressure
and energy density calculated by Maxwell and Bartoli.

Let us now consider a Carnot cycle composed by the isothermal processes

A→B and C→D and the adiabatic processes B→C and D→A, which are
depicted on Figure 1. Moreover, the electromagnetic radiation we are
studying is homogeneous and isotropic; consequently, our thermodynamical
substance is described by the state equation

1
𝑃𝑉 = 𝑈
3

relating its pressure 𝑃, volume 𝑉 and internal energy 𝑈.

FIGURE 1. Carnot´s cycle applied to radiation inside a reflective cavity

First, let us analyse the process A→B and calculate the heat that enters the
𝑈
system in terms of the energy density (𝑢 = 𝑉 ) and the volume change 𝑑𝑉.
Applying the first law of thermodynamics to the mentioned isothermal
process we have:

𝑑𝑈𝐴𝐵 = 𝑑𝑄𝐴𝐵 − 𝑑𝑊𝐴𝐵

𝑢𝑑𝑉 + 𝑉𝑑𝑢 = 𝑑𝑄𝐴𝐵 − 𝑃𝑑𝑉

4 Daniel C. Fajardo

additionally, energy density remains constant, therefore, 𝑑𝑢 = 0 and we can

write

4
𝑑𝑄𝐴𝐵 = (𝑃 + 𝑢)𝑑𝑉 = 𝑢𝑑𝑉
3

Furthermore, the efficiency of the complete Carnot cycle is independent of

the substance that undergoes it and is uniquely determined by the
characteristic temperatures of the isothermals. As we know, the thermal
efficiency of the Carnot cycle (the rate between the work done by the
system and the heat delivered to it) is given by

𝑇𝐶 𝑊
𝜂 =1− =
𝑇𝐻 𝑄𝐻

which in the infinitesimal case we are considering becomes

𝑇 − 𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑊 𝑑𝑃𝑑𝑉
𝜂 =1− = =
𝑇 𝑑𝑄𝐴𝐵 𝑑𝑄𝐴𝐵

Substituting 3𝑑𝑄𝐴𝐵 = 4𝑢𝑑𝑉 and 3𝑑𝑃 = 𝑑𝑢 in the above relation, we get

𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑢
=
𝑇 4𝑢

If we integrate this equation, we obtain the following result:

𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑢 1
∫ = 𝑙𝑛(𝑇) + 𝐷1 = ∫ = 𝑙𝑛(𝑢) + 𝐷2
𝑇 4𝑢 4

𝑢 = 𝐷𝑇 4

Where 𝐷, 𝐷1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷2 are arbitrary constants.

Having established a dependence between the energy density of radiation in

thermal equilibrium and its temperature, all we need is to relate the
emittance of a blackbody and the energy density of the radiation it emits.
Considering that every point in the surface of the body emits light in all
directions and that radiation itself is isotropic, the energy emitted by the
body per unit area per unit time (emittance) is:

1
𝑅 = 𝑐𝑢
4
where c is the speed of light.
Blackbody´s emmitance law 5

Combining this last equation with 𝑢 = 𝐷𝑇 4 , we finally obtain Stefan-

Boltzmann´s law:

𝑐𝐷 4
𝑅= 𝑇 = 𝜎𝑇 4
4

Conclusions

• Surprisingly, the validity of Stefan-Boltzmann´s law is not limited by

electrodynamics; the temperature dependence that the emittance of
a blackbody exhibits is just a consequence of the laws of
thermodynamics, which are independent of the electromagnetic
theory that is regarded as valid. Stefan-Boltzmann´s law would still
hold under Weber´s or Ampère´s electrodynamical theories, a
remarkable result.

• Standard textbooks on quantum and statistical physics present

Stefan-Boltzmann´s law as a limiting case of Planck´s theories,
without taking into consideration that the law that describes the
emittance of blackbodies was obtained sixteen years before Planck
formulated his spectral distribution. As this historical reconstruction
proves, the absence of chronically consistent derivations in
textbooks affects the educational process of scientists, hiding the
complexity of various debates that have taken place in the history of
physics and ignoring the human nature of science. An
anthropological insight into the history of physical theories- the
explicit recognition of scientific endeavours as being pursued by
concrete humans- might reveal astonishing facts concerning physics
itself, such as the mentioned independence between the fourth-
power law and electrodynamics.

References

[1] Kirchhoff, G. (1860). Über das Verhältniss zwischen dem

Emissionsvermögen und dem Absorptionsvermögen der Körper für
Wärme and Licht. Annalen der Physik und Chemie.

[2] Maxwell, J. C. (1873). A treatise on Electricity and Magnetism .

6 Daniel C. Fajardo

[3] Bartoli, A. (1876). Sopra i movimenti prodotti dalla luce e dal calore: e
sopra il radiometro di Crookes.

[4] Stefan, J. (1879). On the relationship between thermal radiation and

temperature.

[5] Boltzmann, L. (1884). Ableitung des Stefanschen Gesetzes, betreffend

die Abhängigkeit der Wärmestrahlung von der Temperatur aus der
elektromagnetischen Lichttheorie.