Donna Kubik PHYS162 Fall, 2006

Electromagnetic radiation
Because of its electric and magnetic properties, light is called
electromagnetic radiation. It consists of perpendicular, oscillating electric
and magnetic fields

DEMO: http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/viewtopic.php?t=52
 History of electromagnetic radiation
• Theoretical prediction
– 1860’s Maxwell described electricity and magnetism with 4 equations
– Described light as oscillating electric and magnetic fields
– The theory placed no limit on wavelength/frequency, but light travels at about
3x108 m/s, c, called the speed of light

• Experimental observation
– 1800 British astronomer William Herschel discovered infrared radiation in an
experiment with a prism. Held a thermometer beyond red light and detected
a temperature, indicating it was being exposed to an invisible form of energy
– 1888 In an experiment with electric sparks, Heinrich Hertz produced EM
radiation with wavelength of a few cm (radio waves)
– 1895 Wilhelm Rontgen invented a machine with wavelength shorter than
10nm, now called xrays
 Light has both wave and particle properties

• Light can act as both waves and particles

• Light travels as waves enclosed in discrete packets called photons
(Einstein proved by the photoelectric effect)
• Photons of different wavelengths have different amounts of energy
• The shorter the wavelength, the higher a photon’s energy
 At first glance, the different types of
electromagnetic radiation all look alike

• They are all oscillating electric and magnetic fields

• They are all comprised of photons

• They all travel at the speed of light

 But not all electromagnetic radiation is alike

Short wavelength, high energy Long wavelength, low energy

• However, each different wavelength has a different energy!

 Electromagnetic radiation

We can use
wavelength or frequency or energy
to describe a specific type of electromagnetic radiation.
 Wavelength

Wavelength () is the distance between two waves.

The period is the time between waves.

1 wavelength
 Frequency

Frequency () is the inverse of the period.

Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz).
Speed, wavelength and frequency are related:
c=

1 wavelength
1 wavelength/sec = 1 Hz

1 second
 Energy
Planck’s Law
Planck’s Law relates frequency (or wavelength) of
an electromagnetic wave to the energy of the
photon

Planck’s law
E=h
E=h(c/
where
E is the energy.
 is the frequency. =c/=wavelength
h is Planck’s constant, h = 6.6  10-34 J s
3 equivalent ways to describe EM radiation

So there are 3 equivalent ways to describe a type of

electromagnetic radiation:

wavelength

frequency

energy
 3 ways to describe EM radiation

Due to “tradition”, radio astronomers tend to refer to frequency, optical astronomers

tend to use wavelength, and x-ray and gamma ray astronomers prefer to use energy
to describe the electromagnetic radiation they are studying

This is tabulated on the next slide:

3 ways to describe EM radiation

Radio
frequency Millimeter
Sub-millimeter
Infrared
wavelength Optical
Ultraviolet
X-ray
Gamma ray
energy
 Electromagnetic radiation

• A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away …

• An electron was moved.

• This motion caused an electromagnetic wave to be launched,

which then propagated away…

• At a later time, at another locale, this wave, and many others

from other electrons in the universe, arrived at a telescope and
were observed by an astronomer

• The superposition of all these fields was recorded, providing

information about the sources that generated the
electromagnetic fields.
 Electromagnetic radiation

• What can we learn about the radiating source from such

observations?
 Some things we can learn about the radiating
source

• Blackbody radiation
• The temperature of a star can be determined by the
shape of its blackbody curve.

• Spectral lines
• The chemistry of an object can be determined by
identifying its spectral lines

• Doppler shift
• The radial motion of a celestial object can be determined
by the Doppler shift of its spectral lines
Blackbody radiation

• A blackbody does not reflect

any light; it absorbs all radiation
falling onto it

• Since it reflects no
electromagnetic radiation, the
radiation it does emit is entirely
the result of its temperature
Blackbody radiation

• An object’s temperature
determines the relative number
of photons that it emits at each
wavelength

– As an object heats up, it gets

brighter, emitting more
electromagnetic radiation at all
wavelengths (Stefan-Boltzman
Law)

– The brightest color of the

emitted radiation changes with
temperature (Wein’s Law)
 Blackbody radiation
Stefan-Boltzman Law

F = σT 4
Joules
F is the energy flux ( 2 )
m ⋅s
T in Kelvin
 Blackbody radiation
Wein’s Law

0.0029
λmax =
T
λ is in meters and T in Kelvin
 Blackbody radiation
Temperature
• A star behaves almost like a
perfect blackbody, so
astronomers can use the
Stefan-Boltzman law to
relate its energy output to its
surface temperature

• The temperature of a star

can be determined by the
shape of its blackbody curve.

DEMO: http://www-astro.phast.umass.edu/courseware/vrml/bb/bbjav.html
Blackbody radiation
Temperature
• A star is considered to be an
example of a "perfect radiator and
perfect absorber" called a black
body. 

• This is an idealized body that

absorbs all electromagnetic energy
incident on it. 

• Stars are good approximations to a

black body, because their hot
gases are very opaque, that is, the
stellar material is a very good
absorber of radiation.
 Blackbody radiation
What color is the Sun?

• The sun emits all colors, but

it emits most strongly in the
blue-green.

• Since the eye is less

sensitive to blue-green than
to yellow, we see the sun as
yellow
 Spectral lines

• The chemistry of an object can be determined by identifying its

spectral lines

– Because each element produces its own unique pattern of

spectral lines when an electron jumps from one energy level
to another

absorption

emission
 Spectral lines
Absorption and emission lines
• An absorption line is created
when an electron jumps from an
inner orbit to and outer orbit,
extracting the required photon
from an outside source of
energy, such as the continuous
spectrum of a hot, glowing
object

• An emission line is produced

when an electron transitions to a
lower orbit and emits a photon
 Spectral lines
Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Gustav Kirchhoff discovered the conditions under which continuum,
emission, and absorption spectra are observed. His description is
summarized as Kirchhoff’s Laws

Law 1

Law 2

Law 3
 Spectral lines
Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Law 1 A hot object or a hot, dense gas produces a continuous
spectrum (also called a continuum) - a complete rainbow without any
spectral lines. This is a black body spectrum

Law 1

Law 2

Law 3
 Spectral lines
Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Law 2 A hot-rarefied gas produces an emission line spectrum – a
series of bright spectral lines against a dark background

Law 1

Law 2

Law 3
 Spectral lines
Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Law 3 A cool gas in front of a continuous source of light produces an
absorption line spectrum – a series of dark spectral lines among the
colors of the rainbow

Law 1

Law 2

Law 3
 Spectral lines
Absorption and emission lines
• The absorption spectrum of the
Sun is an example of
Kirchhoff’s Third Law.
 Doppler shift

• The radial motion of a celestial object can be determined by the

Doppler shift of its spectral lines
 Doppler shift

• Note that only the radial velocity of a celestial object can be

determined by its Doppler shift

Pro
per
mo t
ion
e lo city
a d ial v
R
Doppler-shifted spectral lines
 Doppler shift

• Examples of things that can be learned from measuring the

Doppler shift

– Motion of hot gases on the sun

– Measurements of star motion in double star systems

– Doppler measurements of spectra of distant galaxies enable

us to determine the rate at which the entire universe is
expanding