Determination of the Stefan’s constant using black body

radiation

Experiment No. 2

Physics Lab 3: Thermal Physics & Statistical

Mechanics

Department of Physics, School of Physical

Sciences, Central University of Karnataka,
Kalaburagi.

1 Aim of the experiment

To determine the Stefan’s constant using black body radiation

2 Apparatus

1. A box containing metallic hemisphere (blackbody radiation

enclosure),
2. Three thermometers,
3. Suspended coil galvanometer,
4. A lamp
5. Scale arrangement,
6. Copper-constantan thermocouple,
7. A metallic beaker filled withsand,
8. Steam generator,
9. Rheostat,
10. Test tube,
11. Mercury,
12. Cotton and
13. Connecting wires.
 3 Theory
Stefan-Boltzmann’s law:

It tells us that the energy density of blackbody radiation varies with the fourth
power of temperature. We consider that the blackbody radiation is enclosed in a
container with perfectly reflecting walls. Next the radiation is compressed slowly,
so that continues to be in equilibrium with the container. Then it can be regarded
as a simple thermodynamic fluid.

Using the first and the second laws of thermodynamics, we can write

so that

( ) ( )

Using Maxwell’s relation

( ) ( )

We also know that radiation pressure , where is the energy density of the radiation.

Hence we can write

( ) ( )

Using this result in Eq. (3), we get

( )

This result implies shows that u is a function of temperature alone. Hence, we can
replace the partial differential with an exact differential and write

We can readily integrate it to obtain

Here lna is the constant of integration. On taking antilog of both sides of Eq. (2.5), we
obtain

This result shows that energy density is proportional to the fourth power of temperature.
It is called Stefan’s law. You may recall that the total rate of emission of radiation per
unit area is proportional to energy density. That is,

where is Stefan’s constant. It’s value is 5.672 . It may be

mentioned here that this value of was obtained under extremely controlled conditions.
Now if we consider that a black body at absolute temperature is surrounded by another
black body at temperature the total thermal energy lost by the body at higher
temperature per second per unit area is given by

In this experiment you will be using this relation to obtain the value of .

4 Experimental Procedure

1. Fig. 1 shows the experimental arrangement used to determine Stefan’s constant.

 Fig.1 Experimental arrangement for determination of Stefan’s constant.

2. This experiment is performed in two parts:

I. Calibration of the temperature to measure the rate of change of

temperature of the enclosure.

II. Determination of the temperature of the disc, its rate of change with
temperature and temperature of the enclosure.

III. For the calibration of the thermocouple, attach one of its ends to the
bottom of disc D and immerse the other end in a test tube filled with
oil or mercury. A suspended coil galvanometer G is connected in
the circuit as shown in Fig.1.

3. Calibration of Thermocouple: Follow the steps given below for calibration of

thermocouple:
a. As mentioned earlier, join one junction of thermocouple to disc D and
dip the other junction in oil(or mercury), kept in a test tube. These will
constitute cold junction and hot junction, respectively. As shown in Fig. 1,
keep the test tube in sand bath C.

b. Cover the disc D with cotton wool and start heating the oil to about
120 . Note the temperature using a sensitive thermometer.

c. As thermo-emf develops, the suspended coil galvanometer will indicate

the deflection of coil on the lamp and scale arrangement. Adjust the
variable resistance so that the deflection is maximum.

d. Now allow the sand bath to cool and note deflection for every 5 drop
in temperature. Record your readings in Table 1.

e. Plot a graph between deflection and temperature of hot junction. Draw

a best fit curve. We expect the best fit curve to be a straight line, as shown
in Fig.2.

f. Calculate slope of the straight line by taking the maximum possible

intercept to minimize error in calculation:

slope,

The inverse of slope gives change of temperature with deflection:

Fig. 2 Calibration of thermocouple

 Table 1: Calibration of the Thermocouple

Least count of thermometer =...................

4. Determination of Rate of Change of Temperature:

a. To obtain the rate of change of temperature of the disc, remove the disc
D from the enclosure and plug cotton in the hole. Change the sand in the
sand bath so that the junction in the oil comes to room temperature. Let
us denote this temperature as . Now pass steam through the steam
chamber and note down the steady state temperature.

b. Weigh Disc D accurately and measure its diameter using vernier

callipers. Determine its least count before taking observations for
determination of diameter. You should take observations in two mutually
perpendicular directions and at a number of places.

c. Remove the cotton plug from the hole and insert disc D. Keep the other
junction immersed in oil(or mercury) at room temperature. It means that
temperature of the disc will be higher than that of the junction immersed
in oil(or mercury). This means that the junction soldered to D acts as the
hot junction.
d. Note the deflections of galvanometer and record it in Observation Table
2 at regular intervals of 15 s or 30 s. If the galvanometer is very
sensitive, use a high resistance to keep deflection within the scale even
for maximum temperature difference between the junctions.

Table.2 Variation of delection with time

e. You will observe that deflection increases with rise in temperature of the
steam chamber and hence disc D. Record positions of the deflection spot
at regular intervals of time till it becomes stationary.

f. Plot deflection as a function of time . You will observe that shape of

the curve changes after a certain value of . Draw tangent at that point, as
shown in Fig. 3.
Deflection

Time(s)

Fig.3 Plot of deflection verses time

 g. Calculate slope of the tangent. This gives Next, calculate for the

point P using the relation

h. Next we have to determine temperature of the silver disc corresponding

to the point P. Note the value of corresponding to this point. Suppose
this is . From the calibration curve of the thermocouple for ,
determine the temperature difference between the two junctions. If the
cold junction is at , the temperature of the disc D corresponding to
point P is

Calculation:

By rearranging Eq. (9), you can write the expression for Stefan’s constant as

where is temperature of the disc and is temperature of enclosure in kelvin scale, is

mass of disc, is its specific heat capacity and is area of disc.

Take

5 Result: The value of Stefan’s constant is........................... .