*Check out the beginner's document!* [[Heat Transfers (Thermo)#Radiative Processes - The Stefan Boltzmann Constant|Click on this to go to it.]]
# The View Factor - Intro to Incidence
# Actually Defining a "Black Body"
Strictly speaking, a black body absorbs all radiation incident on itself.
That also means that they don't lose energy when they radiate! An example of this is a star...
Basically, an object with an albedo of 0!
# Thermal Radiation / Thermal Energy
Remember from [[Kinetic Theory & Ideal Gases (Thermodynamics)#Translational Kinetic Energy|the ideal gases' doc]] that the equation for thermal energy is defined as:
$E_{T} = \frac{3}{2}k_{B}T$
Where:
- $k_B$ is Boltzmann's constant
- $T$ is the temperature of the object.
In actuality, this is a direct offshoot of the **Virial theorem**, which is an extension of the potential energy theorem for uniform black bodies. This makes thermal energy the potential energy of the black body.
## Defining the Black Body Radiator
A perfect absorber/emitter of radiation!
# The Prelude - The Ultraviolet Catastrophe
//find rayleigh-jeans lore here! add wien lore too with the equation.
However, a question still persists - how can we find the *wavelength* of the light emitted by an object at a certain temperature? One early attempt
## Wien's Law
$nmK$ --> Temperature unit (unit kelvin!!!!) IT'S A GENERIC UNIT
$\lambda_{max} = \frac{3 \times 10^6nm \cdot K} {T}$
## The Rayleigh-Jeans Law - The Ultraviolet Catastrophe
This'll build us up to our final boss battle...
# Blackbody Radiation - Planck's Odyssey
You're standing before a hulking mass of quantum physics, shuddering in your boots as the notion of hundreds, if not thousands of unintelligible equations fly past you.
Let's try to demystify this! Given a temperature $T$ we can find an emission function of a black body (with temperature and frequency)
$B(\nu ,T) = \frac{2hv^3}{c^2} \frac{1}{e^{{hv}/{kT}} - 1}$
Where:
- $k$ is the Boltzmann constant 1.38 x 10^-23 J/K
- $\nu$ IS THE FREQUENCY OF THE WAVELENGTHS EMITTED (peaks?), REMEMBER
- $c$ is the speed of light
- $T$ is the **absolute** temperature
- $h$ is *planck's constant* - $6.63 \times 10^{-34} J/Hz$ (joules per hertz)
See [[Orbitals and Excitations (Chem)|some information of orbitals]] for more! You can click off now if you're a chemistry dude. I still have no idea how Planck did this FYI.
## Extended - A Superposition of Mute Horror and Quantum Mechanics
*This kinda fits into quantum mechanics - check out the dedicated doc to learn more! (UNFINISHED)* [[Nuclear & Quantum Contents (Nuclear & Quantum)]].
# Touching on Excitations -
*For a more comprehensive rundown on orbitals, check out the dedicated page:* [[Orbitals and Excitations (Chem)]]
Although this would belong better in chemistry, it's best for us to talk a little about the fundamentals of our
there are **orbitals** in an atom, given with the number $N = 1$
this orbital $N = 1$ is the **ground state** --> the orbital electrons occupy at the start
if an electron absorbs a photon it will become excited and jump up an orbital - to orbital $N = 2$
an electron will sometimes reemit a photon taking it back to the ground state --> a photon with the same wavelength as the one they absorbed
The further away from the nucleus the harder it is to get to the next orbital in line.
# What's Next?
You're done with thermal systems! Now for the next logical step - Ideal Gases. To take a first look at Ideal Gases, go here:
[[Kinetic Theory & Ideal Gases (Thermodynamics)]]
For more relating to excitations, go here:
[[Orbitals and Excitations (Chem)]]
For more on thermodynamics, go here:
[[Thermodynamics - A Contents Page]]