69.5k views
2 votes
What is the difference between planck's equation and planck's formula?

User Shi
by
5.4k points

2 Answers

3 votes

Final answer:

Planck's equation and Planck's formula refer to different aspects of the same concept. Planck's equation relates energy and frequency, while Planck's formula describes the spectrum of light emission from a blackbody.

Step-by-step explanation:

Planck's equation and Planck's formula refer to different aspects of the same concept. Planck's equation, E = nhf, describes the relationship between energy (E), frequency (f), and Planck's constant (h). It shows that energy is quantized and exists only in specific numerical states. On the other hand, Planck's formula, also known as Planck's blackbody radiation law, describes the mathematically precise spectrum of light emission from a blackbody.

Planck's equation is fundamental to quantum mechanics and provides insight into the nature of energy and matter. It explains that energy is not continuous but exists in discrete units, or quanta. Planck's formula, on the other hand, describes the distribution and intensity of light emitted from a blackbody at different temperatures.

In summary, Planck's equation relates energy and frequency, while Planck's formula describes the spectrum of light emission from a blackbody. Both concepts are crucial in the field of physics and contribute to our understanding of quantum mechanics and the behavior of electromagnetic radiation.

User Dave Everitt
by
5.0k points
5 votes

PLANCK'S EQUATION

Planck theorized that energy was not transferred as a whole, but in chunks of energy - later known as quanta, given by the equation E=hν,E=hν,

where hh is Planck’s constant and νν is the frequency of the photon.

This helped solve a lot of problems in Physics back in the day, one of most importance, being the Ultraviolet Catastrophe, which was so troublesome that a pompous name like that was assigned to the problem.

This puzzled Physicists for a while, since apparently, the radiation emitted was increasing with increasing Temperature. This was definitely not correct since the theory predicted infinite radiation emitted at very high temperatures, which was not observed in reality.

It wasn’t until Planck realized that the Rayleigh - Jeans law needed a modification. It needed an extra term that would make a cut-off threshold which would lead to the exponential drop of the curve after a certain Temperature which would then prevent the Ultraviolet catastrophe predicted by the previous theory.

The Rayleigh - Jeans law stated that:

(T)=2ν2kBTc2(T)=2ν2kBTc2

leading to the blue curve, while the red one was observed by experimentation and supported by common sense.

PLANCK'S FORMULA

The Planck's formula tells us that energy is inversely proportional to the wavelength. The universe is expanding which means that wavelength is increasing and energy is disappearing
User Mina Wissa
by
6.0k points