KAMALJEETH INSTRUMENTS

Experiment-403 S

STEFAN-BOLTMANN LAW AND

DETERMINATION OF
STEFAN-BOLTMANN CONSTANT
Jeethendra Kumar P K
KamalJeeth Instrumentation & Service Unit, Tata Nagar, Bengaluru-560 092, Karnataka, INDIA
Email: labexperiments@kamaljeeth.net

Abstract
Stefan’s law is verified using a 28mm-dia copper black body radiator and the
Stefan-Boltzmann constant is determined.

Introduction

Stefan-Boltzmann law is one of the most fundamental laws of physics which provided
the basis for development of quantum mechanics. The law was deduced in 1879 by
Josef Stefan (1835–1893) on the basis of experimental measurements made by John
Tyndall and was derived from theoretical considerations using thermodynamics by
Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906) in 1884. Boltzmann considered an ideal heat engine
with light as a working medium instead of gas. The law is accurate only for ideal black
body objects which are perfect radiators. It is also a good approximation for most ‘gray’
bodies.

This experiment has already been published by us [1] but in this paper we have
simplified the experimental procedure further by choosing a more perfect black body.
Further, a correction is applied to the temperature using the least square fitting which
is a new feature of this experiment. The black body employed is made of copper
which is blackened by chemical process, and appears more or like black in colour. We
find that this is more effective and consistent than the black body used in our earlier
work.

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Figure-1: 28mm dia black body radiator fitted with a 2W heater

During the 20th century, several scientists such as Lord Rayleigh, Wilhelm Wein, Max
Plank, Stefan, and Boltzmann used such a black body radiator and studied the radiation
process from it. In 1879 the Austrian physicist Josef Stefan using such a black body
radiator arrived at an empirical formula to account for the heat radiation emitted by it.
According to him, the energy radiated per unit area from a black body is directly
proportional to the fourth power of its surface temperature. In the form of an equation,
it can be expressed as

αT …1

Where,

E is the thermal energy,

A is the total surface area of the black body, and
T is the surface temperature.

= σT …2

σ= …3

The constant appearing in the above equation is due to the joint contribution of Stefan
and Boltzmann, hence it is known as Stefan-Boltzmann constant. Stefan’s law is very
useful in astronomical studies from which temperature; surface area etc. of celestial
objects can be calculated.

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Josef Stefan Ludwig Boltzmann

To verify the Stefan’s radiation law and to determine the Stefan -Boltzmann constant
appearing in it, one needs a near-perfect black body radiation source. A light source
(electric bulb) is not a perfect black body radiator because an electric bulb produces
both heat and light radiation, the exact amount of which is cannot be accounted. It is
difficult to ascertain how much of the input power is converted into light and how
much of it is converted into heat. Hence one has to use a source which radiates only
heat energy to verify the radiation law. A near-perfect black body radiator is shown in
Figure-1. It is made up of a copper sphere of about 28mm diameter and an electric
heater of 2W is fitted inside and sealed by a heat sink material. The heat sink compound
used acts like a binder between the heater and the black body and it helps in
transferring the heat to the rest of the sphere. A digital temperature indicator is used to
measure the surface temperature of the sphere. The heater is heated by a DC regulated
power supply. A digital voltmeter and ammeter records the input voltage and current
to the black body radiator.

The heater used in the experiment is a linear heater because its I-V characteristic is
linear. The efficiency of the heater is about 90% above 1W and the heater is operated
above 1W power. Above 1.8W of power, the heater showed slight deviation from
linearity and below 1W loading is not sufficient, hence its efficiency is not guaranteed.

Temperature of the Sun

Using this law, Stefan calculated the temperature of the Sun's surface as 5430°C which is
about 6% less than the presently accepted value of 5778°C. Similarly the temperature of
stars other than the Sun can be approximated using a similar method by treating the
emitted energy as a black body radiation.

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L= 4̟R2σTe4

Where,
L is the luminosity,
σ is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant,
R is the stellar radius, and
Te is the effective temperature.

This formula can also be used to compute the approximate radius of a main sequence
star relative to the sun. Hence verification of the Stefan-Boltzmann law is an important
experiment in physics which is the gateway to quantum mechanics.

Error calculations

The error in this experiment is due to the error in the measurement of temperature or
the energy. Energy is calculated by measuring the voltage and current which is
accurately measured using digital meters. However, the heat produced at the center of
ball requires a finite time to reach the surface of the ball and, therefore, some amount of
heat is lost in the process of conduction from the center of the ball to its surface. Hence
the temperature at the surface of the ball and that at its center are different. To account
for this temperature difference, we employed the curve fitting procedure and
determined the minimum error in the temperature measurement.

Similarly, by curve fitting we obtain the energy for the case of minimum loss. These
two values for which both the energy loss and temperature loss are minimum should
provide accurate value of σ.

The error in the measurement of parameter X is given by

Sx = (X-X1)2 +(X-X2)2+(X-X3)2+(X-X4)2+(X-X5)2 + …

Where,

Sx is the error is error in the measurement of X, and

X1, X2, are the measured values of X.

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In our case we have taken X as temperature (T). Similarly the energy per unit area
(E/A) is taken as Y. The error in the measurement of Y is given by

Sy = (Y-Y1)2+(Y-Y2)2+(Y-Y3)2+(Y-Y4)2+(Y-Y5)2 + …

Where,
Sy is the error in the measurement of Y, and
Y1, Y2,… are the experimentally measured values of Y.

One can find out the error Sy by substituting the value Xs and Ys in the above equations
from which one can calculate when the error is minimum.

Apparatus used

Black body radiator experimental setup model BBR301, consisting of: 28mm dia
spherical black body radiator, digital temperature indicator, digital DC voltmeter,
digital DC ammeter, Digital stop watch (mobile) and digital vernier calipers.

Experimental procedure:

Determination of surface area of the black body radiator

1. Using digital vernier calipers the diameter of the black body radiator is
determined as

d = 28mm
r = 14mm = 14x10-3m
Surface area of the black body, A = 4πr2 = 2.46x10-3m2

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Figure-2: Black body radiator experimental set-up

Determination of σ

2. Figure-2 shows complete experimental setup used. Figure-3 the circuit diagram.
3. The electrical connections are made as shown in Figure-3.

Pre-heating of the black body radiator (only if temperature is less than 30°C)

Since it is a heating experiment, some preparation is needed prior to starting the

experiment. Further, a heat experiment requires certain time for heat to flow from
one point to other- in this case from the center of sphere to its surface, according to
various trails conducted at our lab, we found that the efficiency of the heater, heat
flow characteristics & efficiency of the temperature sensor to respond is at their
highest between 30°C to 60°C and between 1.2W to 1.8W for the heater. Hence, we
try to conduct the experiment in this region.

I Black
Body
V Radiator

Figure-3: Circuit connections

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4. Hence the copper black body radiator is pre-heated to 30°C by setting maximum
voltage in the power supply. Depending on the room temperature, it takes 5-10
minutes to reach a temperature of about 30°C. Thus pre- heating is essential in
this experiment. After the temperature indicator indicates a temperature about
30°C, the voltage is reduced to 3.4V and a stop watch is started to monitor the
heating.

5. Note down the current time, Ts (ex: 10:00AM). The voltage is set to
approximately 3.5 volts, corresponding current is noted.
Voltage = 3.49V, Current = 0.344A. Hence Power is 1.2W

6. Now refer the graph-1 and find the approximate translation time required for the
heat to reach the surface of the ball from the core.
Here, for 1.2W, the translation time is about 1-minute. Now, note the
temperature after 1 minute, i.e, at 10:01 AM

45
40
TRANSLATION TIME (MIN)

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
POWER (W) Initial Temp 30`c

Graph-I: Power v/s Translation Time (Also See Pg 10 for Enlarged Graph)

7. Now, increase the voltage by aprox 0.2V, Note down the voltage, current and
calculate the power. Here, in trail 2, Voltage is set to 3.62V and current is
displayed as 0.355 A, Hence power will be 1.285W. Now refer to graph-I and find
the translation time for 1.285W, which is about 3 mins. Note the temperature at
10:03AM (Kindly, note that graph does not represent time difference for each set

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power, it’s a cumulative curve and time shown in the graph is form the
beginning of the experiment, when experiment is started at 30°C)

8. For trail 3, Voltage is set to 3.83V, current is 0.376A and thus Power is 1.44W. For
1.44W, translation time is about 9 mins. Hence note the temperature at 10:09AM
and not at 10:13AM.

9. The readings obtained are tabulated in Table-1. Voltage is varied till it reaches
4.2V. Power is calculated and presented in Table-1 along with the temperature.

Table-1: Time & Temperature

Experiment start time, Ts: 10:00 AM

Voltag Current Power Time to attain stabilization Temperature

e
(V) (A) (W) Time after Ts Time on clock Temp °C
from graph (min) (meter reading)
3.49 0.344 1.2 1 10:01 AM 32
3.62 0.355 1.285 3 10:03 AM 38
3.83 0.376 1.440 9 10:09 AM 45
4.03 0.396 1.595 14 10:14 AM 54
4.20 0.413 1.734 21 10:21 AM 61

10. Table-2 is generated from Table-1 as follows. Energy radiated per unit area (E/A)
is also calculated and presented in Table-2.

1.2
= = 487.8
2.46 10

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Table-2: Energy, temperature and Stefan constant

Power E/A T (°C) T (K) T4 σ

(W) (W/m2) x1010 W m-2 K-4
1.2 487.8 32 305 0.865 5.64E-08
1.285 522.35 38 311 0.935 5.58E-08
1.44 585.36 45 318 1.023 5.72E-08
1.595 648.37 54 327 1.143 5.67E-08
1.734 704.87 61 334 1.244 5.66E-08

Average σ 5.65X10-8 W m-2 K-4

Results

The results obtained are tabulated in Table-3.

Table-3: Stefan Boltzmann constant

Parameter Expt Standard
Stephen- Boltzmann constant σ 5.65x10-8 5.67 x 10-8
(Wm-2Kelvin-4)

Discussion

The value of σ determined from different trials is different. However, the average value
of σ obtained is quite accurate and consistent. This has been verified by experimenting
with ten different instruments. It was observed that in each case the average of five
trials was found to be the same.

Reference

[1] J Anil Kumar, Stefan’s law of radiation, LE Vol-2, No-3, Dec-2002, Page-57

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45

40

35

30
TRANSLATION TIME (MIN)

25

20

15

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

POWER (W) Initial Temp 30`c

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