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Solution

Problem 1
The blackbody distribution is
8hV
dE
3
=
(2)
d
c3 eh/kT 1
We have to find for which frequency this expression has its maximum. The
first factor does not depend on and we dont care. For the second one, it
is convenient to start by rescaling , so that the same quantity appears at
the numerator and in the argument of the exponent. To do so, we define
h

kT
so that the above relation becomes
8hV
dE
=
d
c3

kT
h

(3)
!3

3
e 1

(4)

and we are interested in finding the maximum of only the last factor
f

3
e 1

(5)

Initially the function grows as 2 (we have seen it in class). Then, it


decreases exponentially. The exponential is very powerful at suppressing
it, as soon as becomes greater than one. Therefore. without doing any
computation, we can anticipate that the maximum will be at 1 . If
you put this value into (3), you get that the maximum should be close to
the naive estimate kT /h. Most important, we can get the estimate
by a simple physical reasoning: a typical oscillator at temperature T has a
thermal energy E = kT . Since the energy of a single photon is E = h,
assuming that all the photons have the typical thermal energy gives precisely
kT /h . This is a very rough computation, but we will see now that it
gives the right order of magnitude.
Now, lets do the exact computation. Taking the derivative of (5) with
respect to , we get
f0 =

2
[3 + e (
3)]
(e 1)2
2

(6)

This function vanishes at = 0. If you look at the spectrum, this is a


minimum. The peak is at the nontrivial zero of the term in [. . .] , which,
according to what said in the text, is at = 2.8 . Therefore the exact
location of the peak is
peak,true = 2.8

kT
= 2.8 peak,naive
h

(7)

The naive value is a reasonably good estimate.


Problem 2
Einsteins interpretation of the photoelectric effect gives
V0 =

h w0

e
e

(8)

where V0 is the stopping potential, the frequency of the incident light, and
w0 is the energy we need to extract the electron from sodium.
The problems gives the wavelengths, which we can convert into frequencies from the relation = 1/T = c/ (here T is the period of the
wave).
Therefore, the two experimental results read
1.85V
0.92V

h 15 1 w0
10 s
e
e
w0
h
7.5 1014 s1
=
e
e
=

(9)

We can multiply both sides by e = 1.6 10( 19)C . Moreover, we use the
fact that 1 Coulomb times 1 Volt is 1 Joule. This gives
2.96 1019 J = h 1015 s1 w0
1.47 1019 J = h 7.5 1014 s1 w0

(10)

Solving this system, we get the two experimental values for the Planck constant, h ' 6 1034 J s , and for the the energy we need to extract the electron
from sodium, w0 ' 3 1019 J .
Problem 3
3

The Compton relation can be rewritten as


0 = +

h
(1 cos )
mc

(11)

where is the wavelength of the photon before the scattering, 0 after the
scattering, and is angle (from the initial direction) at which the photon
scatters. A useful thing to compute is the prefactor
h
= 2.43 1012 m = 0.0243
A
mc

(12)

0 = 0.051
A + 0.0243
A (1 cos )

(13)

Therefore
For, = 300 , we find 0 = 0.0543
A . For = 3300 . The reason is clear
if we draw the diagram for the two cases. 330 = 360 30 . In the two cases
the photon scatters with the same angle; only, in the picture we would draw
the photon going up in the first case, and down in the second case. But
this corresponds to the same scattering.

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