MEASUREMENT INTENSITY OF BLACK BODY RADIATION AS

TEMPERATURE FUNCTION (STEFAN-BOLTZMANNS LAW)

Ikhsan Mandala Putra*), Atirah Rahman, Marcetrisna, and Nur Fadhillah Syarif
Modern Physics Laboratory Physics Department Mathematics and Science Faculty
State University of Makassar
Abstract. Experiment with title measurement intensity of black body radiation as temperature function (stefanboltzmanns law) has been carried out, with objectives are measuring the intensity of radiation (relative) of a
blackbody at range 3000C-7000C using thermopile Moll and to determine relation between radiation intensity with
absolute temperature (Stefan-Boltzmann Law). This experiment done by using digital apparatus with temperature
sensory with connecting to the computer and then computer recorded data time (s), voltage (mV), and temperature
(0C). There are 7831 data, by using graph this data the value of temperature power is 4.737 and the value of k
constant is = |9.64 0,08| 105 1 . So the conclusion of this experiment will shown Stefan Boltzmanns
law and Newtons Cooling law.

KEYWORDS: blackbody, intensity radiation, and power of temperature.

INTRODUCTION
Black body radiation is one of the great
puzzles of physics that triggered the revolution
in physics. This revolution gave birth to
quantum physics. Research on black body
radiation involves a lot of scientists. One of
them is Kirchhoff, a professor of physics at the
meeting Heidelberg.Kirchhoff found that the
spectral intensity, ie the intensity per unit
wavelength and per unit solid angle, from a
black body is a function of wavelength and
temperature but does not depend on the
dimensions of the black body The. In his
writings, Kirchhoff stresses the importance of
finding the form of the function.
Spectral density of black-body
radiation intensity has a simple relationship
with the spectral power density (energy per unit
wavelength per unit volume) in the cavity black
body radiation. However, to prove it is
necessary to measure the intensity of the
spectral density, which unfortunately, at the
moment it can not be done. These new
measurements can be done 20 years
kemudian.Waktu that physicists can measure
the intensity of the whole spectrum without
knowing that the intensity of this spectrum
depends on the wavelength.
Is Josef Stefan (1835-1893) in Vienna
in 1879 who first discovered that the power
density is comparable to the entire spectrum of
the fourth power of the black body
temperature.
Five years later, Ludwig
Boltzmann (1844-1906) one of the leading
pioneers of statistical mechanics to introduce

the concept of radiation pressure, suggesting

that Stefan empirical equations can be derived
theoretically from the second law of
thermodynamics. Collaboration of these two
figures, Stefan and Boltzmann, who started the
first step in an effort to find a function
Kirchhoff.
According to this experiment there two
main objectives namely measuring the intensity
of radiation (relative) of a blackbody at range
3000C-7000C using thermopile Moll and to
determine relation between radiation intensity
with absolute temperature (Stefan-Boltzmann
Law). Which data got based one Cassy Lab
recording.
THEORY
The second type of experiment we
discuss that cannot be explained by the classical
wave theory is thermal radiation, which is the
electromagnetic radiation emitted by all objects
because of their temperature. At room
temperature the thermal radiation is mostly in
the infrared region of the spectrum, where our
eyes are not sensitive. As we heat objects to
higher temperatures, they may emit visible
light. A typical experimental arrangement is
shown in Figure 1. An object is maintained at a
temperature T1. The radiation emitted by the
object is detected by an apparatus that is
sensitive to the wavelength of the radiation. For
example, a dispersive medium such as a prism
can be used so that different wavelengths appear
at different angles . By moving the radiation
detector to different angles we can measure

the intensity of the radiation at a specific

wavelength. The detector is not a geometrical
point (hardly an efficient detector!) but instead
subtends a small range of angles , so what we
really measure is the amount of radiation in
some range at , or, equivalently, in some
range at .

FIGURE 1. Measurement of the spectrum of

thermal radiation. A device such as a prism is
used to separate the wavelengths emitted by the
object.
Many experiments were done in the late
19th century to study the wavelength spectrum
of thermal radiation. These experiments, as we
shall see, gave results that totally disagreed with
the predictions of the classical theories of
thermodynamics
and
electromagnetism;
instead, the successful analysis of the
experiments provided the first evidence of the
quantization of energy, which would eventually
be seen as the basis for the new quantum theory.

FIGURE 2. A possible result of the

measurement of the radiation intensity over
many different wavelengths. Each different
temperature of the emitting body gives a
different peak max.
Lets first review the experimental
results. The goal of these experiments was to
measure the intensity of the radiation emitted by

the object as a function of wavelength. Figure 2

shows a typical set of experimental results when
the object is at a temperature T1 = 1000K. If we
now change the temperature of the object to a
different value T2, we obtain a different curve,
as shown in Figure 2 for T2 = 1250K. If we
repeat the measurement for many different
temperatures, we obtain systematic results for
the radiation intensity that reveal two important
characteristics:
1. The total intensity radiated over all
wavelengths (that is, the area under
each curve) increases as the
temperature is increased. This is not a
surprising result: we commonly
observe that a glowing object glows
brighter and thus radiates more energy
as we increase its temperature. From
careful measurement, we find that the
total intensity increases as the fourth
power of the absolute or Kelvin
temperature:
(1)
I T 4
where we have introduced the
proportionality constant . Equation (1)
is called Stefans law and the constant
is called the Stefan-Boltzmann
constant.
Its value can be determined from
experimental results such as those
illustrated in Figure 1:

5.67057 x10 8

W
m2 K 4

2. The wavelength max at which the

emitted intensity reaches its maximum
value decreases as the temperature is
increased, in inverse proportion to the
temperature: max 1/T. From results
such as those of Figure 3.13, we can
determine the proportionality constant,
so that
max T 2.8978x10 3 m.K (2)
3. This result is known as Wiens
displacement
law;
the
term
displacement refers to the way the
peak is moved or displaced as the
temperature is varied. Wiens law is
qualitatively consistent with our
common observation that heated
objects first begin to glow with a red
color, and at higher temperatures the
color becomes more yellow. As the
temperature
is
increased,
the
wavelength at which most of the

radiation is emitted moves from the

longer wavelength (red) part of the
visible region toward medium
wavelengths. The term white hot
refers to an object that is hot enough to
produce the mixture of all wavelengths
in the visible region to make white
light.
The theoretical analysis of the emission of
thermal radiation from an arbitrary object is
extremely complicated. It depends on details of
the surface properties of the object, and it also
depends on how much radiation the object
reflects from its surroundings. To simplify our
analysis, we consider a special type of object
called a blackbody, which absorbs all radiation
incident on it and reflects none of the incident
radiation.

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
The apparatus in this experiment is A set
of experiment tools by production of leybold
GmBH, consist of: electric oven 230 V, black
body accessory, safety connection box with
ground, CASSY sensor, NiCr-Adaptor
First, connecting all component to a
voltage source tools including computer as
shown in figure 2.Running the water pump and
make sure the rubber tubing of the flow of water
connected to the heating oven. Let drain for
about 2 minutes before turning on the oven.
Then, turning on the electric oven and let the
oven temperature up to 500oC. This temperature
will observed on the computer screen.Click
icon CASSY on the computer and wait for a
while until seen the display as shown in figure
3. Enable NiCr-Ni temperature sensor and box
0 C ... 1200oC and voltage of-30mV ... 30 mV
(see menu Cassy).

FIGURE 3. A cavity filled with electromagnetic radiation in thermal equilibrium with

its walls at temperature T. Some radiation
escapes through the hole, which represents an
ideal blackbody.
To simplify further, we consider a
special type of blackbody: a hole in a hollow
metal box whose walls are in thermal
equilibrium at temperature T. The box is filled
with electromagnetic radiation that is emitted
and reflected by the walls. A small hole in one
wall of the box allows some of the radiation to
escape (Figure 3). It is the hole, and not the box
itself, that is the blackbody. Radiation from
outside that is incident on the hole gets lost
inside the box and has a negligible chance of
reemerging from the hole; thus no reflections
occur from the blackbody (the hole). The
radiation that emerges from the hole is just a
sample of the radiation inside the box, so
understanding the nature of the radiation inside
the box allows us to understand the radiation
that leaves through the hole.

FIGURE 4. The series of black-body radiation

experimental tools
Observing the changes in the intensity of
radiation as a function of temperature rise. You
may have to wait for 1 hour or more until the
temperature reaches above 500oC (eg 520oC)
to begin recording data. At the time toggles
electric oven.Your data can be recorded into
Excel.When the temperature reaches 500oC
objects do recording of measurement data by
pressing the symbols on the menu Cassy or use
F9 key.

FIGURE 5. CASSY and Setup menu display

temperature and voltage sensor
Stop recording data when the object's
temperature reaches 500C. Keep a record of
your recording by pressing the F2 key or use the
save symbol on the menu Cassy.

EXPERIMENT RESULT AND DATA

ANALYSIS
The first analysis in this experiment will
prove the Stefen-Boltzmanns Law
= 4
This equation shown that the intensity of
radiation is proportional to the temperature in
the fourth power, with is Stefen-Boltzmanns

5.67057 x108

constant equals to

W
,
m2 K 4

directly able to written as:

~ 4
To know from
~
This analysis will prove that whether got the
fourth power is equals to 4, so graph form based
the logarithmic value of voltage in unit of Volt
(voltage as indicator of intensity of radiation)
and temperature in unit of Kelvin.
Based on the data, shown this graph:
0
-0,5

Log V

-1
-1,5

y = 3,2969ln(x) - 4,2037
R = 0,7172

From this graph indicate that proportional

relation between voltage V and temperature in
T, we got equation for relation between Log T
and Log V is
= 3,2969 4,2037
with
= 0,7172
So
= 3,2969
The Degree of Certainty (DC) is
= 71,72%
And Relative Uncertanty (RU) is
= 28,28%
where
=
= 0.932
So,
= |3,3 0,9|
Recording data using Cassy Lab program
is start from 4000C until cooling reach the 500C.
and the oven is like a blackbody which is
emitted radiation. According to that analysis
above is to prove the power of T is (figure 6)
equals to

log V
(which got from derivation of
log T

equation (1)), so based on that linier graph the

value of T power (p) is the gradient of that
equation Log V m Log T C got p=3,2969
and the degree of certainty up to 71.72% and
relative uncertainty is 28.28 %. This different
caused of initial temperature is not using 5000C,
this temperature difficult to reach because room
that used in conditioning with AC, its affect the
oven hard to reach that temperature.
The second analysis, determining the
constanta from the Newtons Cooling Law
and comparing that with constanta from
graph.

r r0 e kt
We can got contanta by calculating

ln

r
kt
r0

-2,5
-3

r
r0

ln

-2

Log T

FIGURE 6. Graph of voltage as a function of

temperature in logarithmic value

T (kelvin)

800
y = 577,49e-9E-05x
R = 0,9178

600
400
200
0
0

2000

4000

6000

8000

t (sekon)

FIGURE 7. Graph of relation between

absolute temperature and time
From the graph 2, we got equation of
relation between absolute temperature (K) with
time (s) is
= 577.49 0,00009
and
= 0,9178
So, from that equation
= 0.00009 1
For
= 91,78%
and
= 8,22%
where
= 0,000007398 1
So,
= |9.00 0,74| 105 1
The contanta by calculating the
average, we got = 0,0001534 1 and
standard deviation of is 0,00003752 1 , so
0,0001534 1
=
100%
0,00003752 1
= 4,08%
And we get
= |15.34 0.6|105 1
For the constanta , we compare the contanta
based on the graph and constanta based on the
Newtons Cooling Law. Based on the graph, we
got contanta from the equation of relation
between absolute temperature and time, so we

got = |9.00 0,74| 105 1. Based on

the Newtons Cooling Law, we got contanta
by devide between the absolute temperature
and the highest temperature in result
observation. Then, we make Ln from the result
and devide it by time. From 7831 datas, we
make the average of constanta , and we got
= |15.34 0.6|105 1. It is so different
with the constanta of based on the grap, and if
we make the interval for contanta based on the
graph and based on the Newtons Cooling Law
that shown below.
It shown that the constanta from the
graph analysis is not on range of constanta
from calculating analysis by Newtons Cooling
Law. So, the result of contanta from the graph
is not in accordance with the result of constanta
from the calculating analysis by Newtons
Cooling Law. The case that caused occur
transient zona in initial cooling.

CONCLUSION
Based on the objectives of this
experiment, we can conclude that by using
thermopile mol will show the Stefan
Boltzmanns law namely proportional relation
between intensity of blackbody radiation with
temperature in fourth power, where p in this
experiment got 3.297. By using Newtons
Cooling law, relation between time and
temperature is in inversely proportional with k
value is = |9.00 0,74| 105 1.
REFERENCES
[1] Krane, Kenneth. 2012. Modern Physics
Third Edition. Hoboken:John Willey
& Sons.
[2] Subaer, dkk. 2013. Penuntun Praktikum
Eksperimen
Fisika
I.
Unit
Laboratorium Fisika Modern Jurusan
Fisika FMIPA UNM.