Science Physics
Question
(a) Assuming the Sun to radiate like an ideal thermal source at a temperature of 6000 K, what is the intensity
of the solar radiation emitted in the range 550.0 nm to 552.0 nm? (b) What fraction of the total solar
radiation does this represent?
Solution Verified
Step 1 1 of 7
Known :
We know that blackbody radiation is the experiment that we can not describe by the classical wave
theory. These experiments gave us results that totally disagreed with the predictions of the classical
theories of thermodynamics and electromagnetism.
The successful analysis of the experiments provided the first evidence of the quantization of energy.
Also we know that there is many tries to explain the experiment. In the following we will see how to
solve our problem with some of this tries and we will see the success and failure of this tries
The classical theory of thermal radiation that involves first computing the amount of radiation
(number of waves) at each wavelength and then finding the contribution of each wave to the total
energy. Each individual wave contributes an average energy of kT to the radiation in the box.
We know that the wavelength λmax at which emitted intensity reaches its maximum value decreases
1
as the temperature is increased, in inverse proportion to the temperature λmax
α , so we can
T
determine the proportionality constant experimentally.
Step 2 2 of 7
Known :
In order to evaluate the total intensity radiated over all wavelengths, we use the following equation:
I = σT 4
(1)
In order to evaluate the intensity as a function of wavelengths, we use the following equation:
2πhc 1
I (λ ) = (2)
λ5
exp ( )−1
hc
λkT
In order to evaluate the infinitesimal change in the intensity, we use the following equation
dI = I (λ) dλ
(3)
Step 3 3 of 7
(a) Given :
= 600 K. We assume that an interval of width dλ = 3 nm at a
The temperature of the sun is T
average wavelength λ = 551 nm.
Required :
Finding the infinitesimal change in the intensity.
Step 4 4 of 7
Calculation :
We can evaluate the value of kT to simplify our calculation as we will see in the following step:
kT = (8.6174 × 10−5 eV/K) × (6000 K) = 0.517 eV
In order to evaluate the infinitesimal change in the intensity, we use equation (3)
dI = I (λ) dλ
Substituting from equation (2), then we get
2πhc 1
dI = I (λ) = dλ
λ5
exp ( )−1
hc
λkT
Substituting from the given data, then we get
(2π ) × (6.626 × 10−34 J ⋅ s) × (3 × 108 m/s2 ) × (2 × 10−9 m)
dI = = 1.9 × 105 W/m2
( 1240 eV ⋅ nm)
(551 × 10−9 m) × exp ( )−1
5
(551 nm) × (0.517 eV)
Step 5 5 of 7
(b) Required :
Finding the fraction of radiation.
Step 6 6 of 7
Calculation :
In order to evaluate the intensity of radiant emitted by the Sun, we use the following relation :
I = σT 4
We know that the value of σ is constant value. it is σ = 5.67037 × 10−8 W/m2 ⋅ K4 .
Substituting from the given data, then we get
4
I = (5.67037 × 10−8 W/m2 ⋅ K4 ) × (6000 K) = 7.35 × 107 W/m2
Then we can evaluate the fraction
1.9 × 105 W/m2
The fraction is = 0.0026
7.35 × 107 W/m2
Result 7 of 7
Result :
(a) dI = 1.9 × 105 W/m2
(b) The fraction is 0.0026
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