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Re: blackbody radiation



Last question (I think)

John D. wrote

Item (a) [a blackbody] is again the same as item (c)[a hydrogen atom dropping to a lower energy state and emitting], possibly in
the limit where item (d)[accelerating electrons in an antenna] is valid also. The blackness
of the black body depends on charges moving around as
nonthermal light is absorbed and thermal light is
emitted.

So the difference between a) and c) is the number of different available states, the states of the hydrogen atom being given by the solution of the schroedinger equation (and being discreet) and the states for the blackbody being essentially continuous (because of the number of different ways radiation can be absorbed/emitted) and the distribution of those states obeying planck statistics. Right?

Justin Parke
Oakland Mills High School
Columbia, MD