Question

In the history of quantum physics, explain the ultraviolet catastrophe, and how it was resolved by Planck. Draw a graph showing the classical prediction for the shape of a blackbody spectrum compared to a measured blackbody spectrum.

Answer 1

the puzzle regarding blackbody radiation was that the theory regarding how hot objects radiate energy predicted that an infinite amount of energy is emitted at small wavelengths, which clearly makes no sense from the perspective of energy conservation. Because small wavelengths correspond to the ultraviolet end of the spectrum, this puzzle was known as the ultraviolet catastrophe

The German physicist Max Planck was able to solve the ultraviolet catastrophe through what, at least at first, he saw as a mathematical trick. . Planck determined that if the vibrating atoms and molecules were not allowed to take on any energy, but instead were confined to a set of equally-spaced energy levels, the predicted spectra matched the experimentally determined spectra extremely well. Planck determined that, for an atom oscillating with a frequency f, the allowed energy levels were integer multiples of the base energy unit hf, where Planck’s constant h has the value 6.626 *10-34 J

.1 I). Classical theory Culbauiolet catastophe) Expenment