Modern Physics:

Revisited
Mohd Faudzi Umar
Department of Physics
Faculty of Science and Mathematics
Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

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Course Outlines

 Blackbody radiation
 Photoelectric effect
 Bohr’s model of atom
 Wave particle duality
 Davisson-Germer experiment
 Heisenberg uncertainty principle
Blackbody radiation

 Topic outlines: Wien’s displacement law, Stefan

Boltzmann law, Rayleigh-Jeans formula, Planck’s
law.
 Learning Outcomes:
 Student can explain basic principles of BR (using PhET)
 From Planck’s law student can derive Wien’s, Rayleigh-
Jeans, Stefan-Boltzmann’s law.
 Student can interpret the graph Intensity vs wavelength
to understand Wien’s, Rayleigh-Jeans, Stefan-
Boltzmann’s law.

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Blackbody radiation LO: Basic principles (fig.), graph
and theories

 "Blackbody radiation" is an object or system which

absorbs all radiation incident upon it and re-radiates
energy which is characteristic of this radiating system
only, not dependent upon the type of radiation which is
incident upon it.
Physicists can study the properties of
intensity versus wavelength at fixed
temperatures.
From the Blackbody we want to study the
followings; Wien’s, Rayleigh-Jeans,
Stefan-Boltzmann and most important topic is
Planck’s blackbody radiation.

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Wien’s Displacement Law
 The intensity (λ, T) is the total power radiated per unit
area per unit wavelength at a given temperature.
 Wien’s displacement law: The maximum of the
distribution shifts to smaller wavelengths as the
temperature is increased.

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Stefan-Boltzmann Law
 The total power radiated increases with the temperature:

 This is known as the Stefan-Boltzmann law, with the

constant σ experimentally measured to be 5.6705 × 10−8
W / (m2 · K4).

 The emissivity є (є = 1 for an idealized blackbody) is

simply the ratio of the emissive power of an object to that
of an ideal blackbody and is always less than 1.

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Rayleigh-Jeans Formula
 Lord Rayleigh (John Strutt) and James Jeans; Rayleigh-Jeans formula used the classical theories
of electromagnetism and thermodynamics to show that the blackbody spectral distribution should be

8f 2 kT
u( f , T )  3
 c
It approaches the data at longer wavelengths, but it deviates badly at short wavelengths. This
problem for small wavelengths became known as “the ultraviolet catastrophe” and was one of the
outstanding exceptions that classical physics could not explain.

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Planck’s Radiation Law
 Planck assumed that the radiation in the cavity was emitted
(and absorbed) by some sort of “oscillators” that were contained
in the walls. He used Boltzman’s statistical methods to arrive at
the following formula that fit the blackbody radiation data.

Planck’s radiation law

 Planck made two modifications to the classical theory:

1) The oscillators (of electromagnetic origin) can only have certain
discrete energies determined by En = nhf, where n is an integer, f is
the frequency, and h is called Planck’s constant.
h = 6.6261 × 10−34 J·s.
2) The oscillators can absorb or emit energy in discrete multiples of
the fundamental quantum of energy given by

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Example:
From Planck’s law, please derive:
•Rayleigh-Jeans formula

•Wien’s displacement law

•Stefan-Boltzmann law

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 Learning Outcomes:
Photoelectric effect Student will understand the basic
principles of Photoelectric effect
Can interpret the graphs.
 Definition: The photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons or
other free carriers when light hits a material. Electrons emitted in
this manner can be called photoelectrons. 
 According to classical electromagnetic theory, the photoelectric
effect can be attributed to the transfer of energy from the light to an
electron. Example:

 Einstein proposed a beam of light consists of small packages of

energy called photons or quanta. The equation is

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Photoelectric Effect
Methods of electron emission:
 Thermionic emission: Application of heat allows electrons to gain
enough energy to escape.
 Secondary emission: The electron gains enough energy by transfer
from another high-speed particle that strikes the material from
outside.
 Field emission: A strong external electric field pulls the electron out
of the material.
 Photoelectric effect: Incident light (electromagnetic radiation)
shining on the material transfers energy to the electrons, allowing
them to escape.

Electromagnetic radiation interacts with electrons within metals and gives the
electrons increased kinetic energy. Light can give electrons enough extra kinetic
energy to allow them to escape. We call the ejected electrons photoelectrons.

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Photoelectric effect

 The photoelectric effect is the emission

of electrons or other free carriers
when light hits a material. Electrons emitted
in this manner can be called photoelectrons.
Your lecture will explain about:
1.Treshold frequency
2.Workfunction
3.Stopping potential and
4.Photoelectric equations:

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Simple simulation experiment,
see PhET
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Experimental Setup

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Experimental Results
1) The kinetic energies of the photoelectrons are independent of
the light intensity.
2) The maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons, for a given
emitting material, depends only on the frequency of the light.
3) The smaller the work function φ of the emitter material, the
smaller is the threshold frequency of the light that can eject
photoelectrons.
4) When the photoelectrons are produced, however, their number
is proportional to the intensity of light.
5) The photoelectrons are emitted almost instantly following
illumination of the photocathode, independent of the intensity of
the light.

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Experimental Results

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Classical Interpretation
 Classical theory predicts that the total amount of energy in
a light wave increases as the light intensity increases.
 The maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons
depends on the value of the light frequency f and not on
the intensity.
 The existence of a threshold frequency is completely
inexplicable in classical theory.
 Classical theory would predict that for extremely low light
intensities, a long time would elapse before any one
electron could obtain sufficient energy to escape. We
observe, however, that the photoelectrons are ejected
almost immediately.

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Einstein’s Theory
 Einstein suggested that the electromagnetic radiation
field is quantized into particles called photons. Each
photon has the energy quantum:

where f is the frequency of the light and h is Planck’s

constant.

 The photon travels at the speed of light in a vacuum,

and its wavelength is given by

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Einstein’s Theory
 Conservation of energy yields:

where is the work function of the metal.

Explicitly the energy is

 The retarding potentials measured in the photoelectric effect are

the opposing potentials needed to stop the most energetic
electrons.

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Quantum Interpretation
 The kinetic energy of the electron does not depend on the light
intensity at all, but only on the light frequency and the work
function of the material.

 Einstein in 1905 predicted that the stopping potential was linearly

proportional to the light frequency, with a slope h, the same
constant found by Planck.

 From this, Einstein concluded that light is a particle with energy:

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Example:

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Bohr’s model of atom
 Topic outlines: Bohr’s assumptions, Bohr
radius, Bohr’s energy, Spectra lines.
 Learning outcomes:
 Student can compare between Thompson,
Rutherford’s.
 Can derive the Bohr’s energy equation
 Can solve any problems related to hydrogen
atom.

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Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom

Bohr’s general assumptions:

1) “Stationary states” (orbiting electrons do not radiate energy) exist
in atoms. L=nh/2
2) E = E1 − E2 = hf
3) Classical laws of physics do not apply to transitions between
stationary states.
 The diameter of the hydrogen atom for stationary states is

Where the Bohr radius is given by

 The smallest diameter of the hydrogen atom is

 n = 1 gives its lowest energy state (called the “ground” state)

Bohr Radius
 The energies of the stationary states

where E0 = 13.6 eV.

 Emission of light occurs when the atom is

in an excited state and decays to a lower
energy state (nu → nℓ).

where f is the frequency of a photon.

R∞ is the Rydberg constant.

The Hydrogen Atom

 Lyman series
The atom will remain in the
excited state for a short time
before emitting a photon and
returning to a lower stationary
state. All hydrogen atoms exist
in n = 1 (invisible).
Balmer series
When sunlight passes through
the atmosphere, hydrogen
atoms in water vapor absorb
the wavelengths (visible).
Transitions in the Hydrogen Atom
 The electron’s velocity in the Bohr model:
Limitations of the Bohr Model

The Bohr model was a great step of the new quantum theory,
but it had its limitations.

1) Works only to single-electron atoms.

2) Could not account for the intensities or the fine structure
of the spectral lines.
3) Could not explain the binding of atoms into molecules.
Heisenberg uncertainty principle

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Example:

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