Poetry of Physics and the Physics of Poetry

169

Chapter 18

The Quantization of Energy

The exploration of the atom at the turn of the century provided the
physicists of the day with a never-ending stream of surprises and shocks
as one new discovery followed another. The most disturbing of all the
new results of this period, however, occurred as a result of Max Planck’s
study of the energy distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted
from the surface of a hot body. According to Maxwell’s theory, an
electric charge, when accelerated, emits electromagnetic radiation. As a
body is heated, the atoms composing it begin to oscillate rapidly, which
causes them to emit radiation. In order to study the distribution of
energy with respect to the frequency of this thermally induced radiation,
a black body radiation device was constructed as depicted in Fig. 18.1.
It consisted of a hollow spherical shell of metal in which a small hole
was drilled.

161

Chapter 18

The Quantization of Energy

The exploration of the atom at the turn of the century provided the

physicists of the day with a never-ending stream of surprises and shocks

as one new discovery followed another. The most disturbing of all the

new results of this period, however, occurred as a result of Max Planck's

study of the energy distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted

from the surface of a hot body. According to Maxwell's theory, an

electric charge, when accelerated, emits electromagnetic radiation. As a

body is heated, the atoms composing it begin to oscillate rapidly, which

causes them to emit radiation. In order to study the distribution of energy

with respect to the frequency of this thermally induced radiation, a black

body radiation device was constructed as depicted in Fig. 18.1. It

consisted of a hollow spherical shell of metal in which a small hole was

drilled.

Fig. 18.1

The lines in the figure represent a beam of light entering the sphere,

bouncing off the inner walls of the sphere and eventually being absorbed.

Since it is difficult for light to leave the sphere once entering the interior

of the hollow shell, the radiation inside the shell is due almost entirely to

Fig. 18.1

The lines in the figure represent a beam of light entering the sphere,
bouncing off the inner walls of the sphere and eventually being absorbed.
Since it is difficult for light to leave the sphere once entering the interior
of the hollow shell, the radiation inside the shell is due almost entirely to
the thermal emission of electromagnetic radiation from the inner walls of