Name: FOUOMENE KOUETSA DEVALOIRE

MATRICULE: 19TP21851

Kirchhoff’s Law of Radiation (Assignment)

1. Overview

Kirchhoff’s law of thermal emission asserts that, given sufficient dimensions to neglect diffraction,
the radiation contained within arbitrary cavities must always be black, or normal, dependent only
upon the frequency of observation and the temperature, while independent of the nature of the
walls.
Unlike Kirchhoff’s claims however, it can be demonstrated that the radiation contained within a
cavity is absolutely dependent on the nature of its walls. Real blackbodies can do work, converting
any incoming radiation or heat to an emission profile corresponding to the Planckian spectrum
associated with the temperature of their walls

2. Introduction

Kirchhoff’s law of thermal emission was formulated in 1859. It is often presented as stating that, at
thermal equilibrium, the emissivity of an object, 𝜖𝜈 , is equal its absorptivity, 𝛼𝜈
All bodies radiate energy in the form of photons. When these photons reach another surface, they
may either be absorbed, reflected or transmitted. The behavior of a surface with incident radiation is
described by the following quantities:

• absorptivity (a) is the fraction of incident radiation absorbed

• reflectivity (r) is the fraction of incident radiation reflected
• transmissivity (t) is the fraction of incident radiation transmitted

3. The mathematical form of Kirchhoff’s Law

In advancing his law, Kirchhoff did not have recourse to experimental verification. He first stated
that the emissive power of an object, E, divided by its absorptive power, A, was equal to a universal
function which depended only upon temperature, T, and frequency, ν (E/A= e where e = f {T, ν}).
He then immediately replaced absorptive power, A, with absorptivity, 𝛼𝜈 , such that E/𝜶𝝂 =f {T, ν}.
For actual blackbodies, it is clear that 𝛼𝜈 can be set to 1 and E=f {T, ν}. However, Kirchhoff’s
expression becomes undefined when 𝛼𝜈 is set to zero, as would occur if the cavity was constructed
from a perfect reflector. Thus, relative to Kirchhoff’s relationship, two limits are involved. The first,
addresses cavities constructed from perfect absorbers, such that 𝛼𝜈 can be set to 1. The second,
involves cavities constructed from perfect reflectors, such that 𝛼𝜈 can be set to zero and the law
becomes undefined. Perfectly reflecting cavities never followed Kirchhoff’s law. In any event,
Kirchhoff had no mathematical basis for arguing that all cavities must contain black radiation which
is dependent only upon temperature and frequency

Real bodies radiate less effectively than black bodies. The measurement of this is the emissitivity (𝜖𝜈 )
defined by
𝐸
𝜖𝜈 =
𝐸𝑏
where E is radiated power per unit area from the real body at temperature T, and 𝐸 𝑏 is radiated
power per unit area from a black-body at the same temperature T. The emissivity of the blackbody is
1 and that of a real body is between 0 and 1.

Consider a small real body in thermal equilibrium with its surrounding blackbody cavity
i.e. , 𝑇𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 = 𝑇𝑐𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 . The power emitted per unit area of the blackbody (cavity) is 𝐸 𝑏 . Thus,
incident power per unit area of the real body is 𝐸 𝑏 . The power absorbed per unit area of the real
body is 𝛼𝜈 𝐸 𝑏 . The power emitted per unit area of the real body is equal to E=𝜖𝜈 𝐸 𝑏 . Since real
body is in thermal equalibrium with its surrounding, energy balance gives 𝜖𝜈 𝐸 𝑏 =𝛼𝜈 𝐸 𝑏 i.e, 𝛼𝜈 =𝜖𝜈 .
The relation 𝛼𝜈 =𝜖𝜈 is known as Kirchhoff's Law of radiation. It implies that good radiators are good
absorbers.
Note that Kirchhoff's law is valid only when body is in thermal equilibrium with its
surrounding.
4. Conclusion
Kirchhoff’s law is demonstrably false. Real blackbodies can do work on any incoming radiation and
they appear to do so instantly. They exclusively contain radiation which reflects the temperature of
their walls, not the presence of the radiation in their surroundings. It is this ability to do work in the
ideal blackbody, and the inability to do work in the perfect reflector, which determines the real
behavior of cavities. The production of a blackbody spectrum absolutely requires the presence of a
vibrating lattice and is intrinsically tied to the nature of the walls contrary to Kirchhoff’s claim.