A Presentation on

BLACKBODY
RADIATION

Introduction
When a radiation passes through matter, a fraction
of it is absorbed, some fraction is reflected, and rest
is transmitted. If a, b, c represent the representative
fraction then a + b + c = 1.
If for body b = c = 0, i.e., the body neither reflects
nor transmits then it absorbs the incident radiation
and the body appears black whatever be colour of
incident radiation on it. Since a perfect absorber is
also a perfect emitter, the body emits radiation of all
wavelengths. Such a radiation is called BLACKBODY
RADIATION and the body emitting blackbody
radiation is called blackbody.
In fact, no substance possess strictly the property
of an ideal
blackbody but lampblack and

Blackbody Assumption
If a blackbody is placed in an isothermal enclosure it
will attain thermal equilibrium with the enclosure and
emit full radiation characteristic of temperature but
independent of the nature of the substance. Hence the
thermal radiation from an isothermal enclosure is
identical with that from a blackbody at the same
temperature. This is why blackbody radiation is
sometimes termed as thermal radiation.
A Hollow copper sphere, coated with lampblack on its
inner surface and a fine hole with a pointed projection
just in front of the hole serves the purpose of a practical
blackbody as shown.
When radiation enters the hole it suffers multiple
reflection and are completely absorbed. Then the body
behaves as an absorptive blackbody.
When this body is placed in a constant temperature

Stefans Law
The frequency distribution (or wavelength distribution) of
radiation from a blackbody cavity or an isothermal enclosure
was studied in the late nineteenth century.
The intensity of the emitted radiation versus wavelength
curve at different temperature of a blackbody radiation is
shown below.

According to Stefans Law,

The emissive power of the surface of a blackbody is given
by :

P = A T4
Where,
- Stefan's constant (5.67 x 10-8 W m-2 K-4)
P - Radiation Energy
A - Surface Area = 4 r2
T - Temperature
r Radius
The intensity formula is given by :

I = T4
- Stefan's constant (5.67 x 10-8 W m-2 K-4)

Wiens law
Wiens Displacement Law :
Applying the laws of thermodynamics , in 1893, Wien
showed that, the wavelength corresponding the
maximum emission is inversely proportional to the
absolute temperature of the Blackbody, i.e.,

Wiens Distribution Law :

When considered, an isothermal cavity, increasing
gradually. According to Wien, the energy density of the
blackbody radiation of wavelengths between and ( +d
) from isothermal cavity of temperature is given by :

E d = (A/ 5) e-B

Rayleigh Jeans Law

Inphysics, theRayleighJeans lawattempts to describe
thespectral radianceofelectromagnetic radiatonat all
wavelengthsfrom ablack bodyat a given temperature
through classical arguments. For wavelength, it is:

wherecis thespeed of light,kBis theBoltzmann

constantandTis thetemperatureinkelvins.
Forfrequency, the expression is instead

The RayleighJeans law agrees with experimental results at

large wavelengths (low frequencies) but strongly disagrees
at short wavelengths (high frequencies). This inconsistency
between observations and the predictions ofclassical
physicsis commonly known as theultraviolet catastrophy,
and its resolution was a foundational aspect of the

Consistency with Plancks Law

In 1900Max Planckempirically obtained an expression
forBlackbody radiationexpressed in terms of
wavelength=c/(Plancks Law):

wherehis the Plancks Constant. The Planck law does

not suffer from an ultraviolet catastrophe, and agrees
well with the experimental data, but its full significance
(which ultimately led to quantum theory) was only
appreciated several years later. Since,

then in the limit of very high temperatures or long

wavelengths, the term in the exponential becomes small,
and the exponential is well approximated with
theTaylors Binomial first-order term,

So,

This results in Planck's blackbody formula reducing to

which is identical to the classically derived RayleighJeans

expression.
The same argument can be applied to the blackbody
radiation expressed in terms of frequency=c/. In the
limit of small frequencies, that is,

This last expression is the RayleighJeans law in the limit of

small frequencies.