Determination of Plancks constant using Wiens distribution law

Apparatus Used: Solar cell (Photo-voltaic cell- Celliniun type), Optical Filters (Blue, Green and Red), Convex Lens

Brief Theoretical Description & Formulae Used: In this experiment we make use of Wiens distribution law for the experimental determination of Plancks constant. The Wiens law is an approximate form of Plancks distribution formula in the high frequency (or equivalently short wavelength) limit: 8hc exp (hc/kB T ) d. (1) 5 u()d Energy per unit volume emitted by the black-body within the wavelength interval to + d, kB is the Boltzmanns constant T Absolute temperature of the black-body h is Plancks constant to be determined by the experiment In the present experiment, we idealize a tungsten lament (bulb) as a perfect black body, described by Wiens distribution law. The radiation emitted by the lament is measured by means of a photovoltaic cell. Typically the photo-current obeys the following relationship: u()d = I (, T ) = B exp(hc/kB T ) hc kB T We compare above equation with an equation of a straight line loge I = loge B y = C mx. (2) (3)

(4)

Thus variation of loge I with 1/T comes out as a straight line, calculating slope of this allows one to determine h. hc kB Temperature of the black-body can be obtained as follows, At temperature T the relation with lament resistance is Slope = m = 1 (5)

RT T = R0 T0 At room temperature this relation reads:

1 .2

(6)

RR TR 1.2 = , R0 T0 here RT is resistance of the lament at temperature TR and R0 is at T = 273K . TD RD = R0 T0

1.2

(7)

(8)

here RD = VD /ID is the draper voltage, the minimum voltage at which the lament just starts glowing and TD is draper temperature which is 800 K for tungsten. Dividing Eq.(7) by (8) we obtain: RR = RD Now dividing Eq. (6) by (7) RT 0.833 . RR Here TR is the room temperature should be noted by room thermometer. T = TR (10) TR 800
1 .2

(9)

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

Procedure: Note draper voltage and draper current from power supply. Align the radiation source (light bulb), convex lens, lter and the radiation detector on the optical bench. In this one rst bring all the components namely bulb, lens, lter and detector (solar cell) at the same height. Next we focus radiation coming from the bulb in such a way that the maximum amount of light passes through lens and lter. After xing the lter, we adjust the lens and solar cell in such way that the maximum amount of radiation in received by the center of the black strip on the detector. We connect digital multimeter across the detector and use in ammeter mode (Range 2000 A). We keep changing the voltage (VT ) across the lament and note corresponding current (IT ) and I Observation Table: RD = Wavelength = A T = TR
RT 0.833 RR

TR = K

S. No. VT (Volt) IT (Ampere) I ( Amp) RT = VT /IT 1. 2. 3. 4.

1/T

loge I

Above set of observations should be taken for three wavelengths by replacing the lter.

Figure 2: Variation of loge I with 1/T

Calculations: From the plot loge I versus I/T the slope is calculated as loge I (1/T ) Comparing Eq. (5) with (11) the value of Planck constant can be calculated as: Slope = h = Slope kB c (11)

Result: Standard Value: h = 6.626 1034 Joule-sec % Error: %Error = |Standard Value Experimental Value| 100 Standard Value (12)

Precautions & Sources of Errors: 1. Special care should be taken while measuring the VT , particulary the draper voltage. 2. The bulb should be connected with power supply with thick wires so the resistance of the of the wires do not contribute in the RT and RD . 3. Radiation from the bulb should be properly focused. 4