- #1
Bradley Tafe
- 8
- 0
My name is Bradley and I am a first year university student attending Intro to Quantum mechanics lectures but didn't understand...
Why the black body radiation curve (unlike the quantized emission seen from atomic spectra), is continuous over all frequencies. I am wondering what exactly gives rise to a basically continuous black-body radiation curve in real objects? Since atomic energy states are quantized, it seems real life black-body curves would have some degree of measurable quantization to them (as themal radiation comes from electrons moving to a lower energy state).
If you could explain to me why the spectrum is continuous for all frequencies and not just the wavelengths corresponding to difference in energy levels in the atoms that emit the radiation, I would be very grateful.
Why the black body radiation curve (unlike the quantized emission seen from atomic spectra), is continuous over all frequencies. I am wondering what exactly gives rise to a basically continuous black-body radiation curve in real objects? Since atomic energy states are quantized, it seems real life black-body curves would have some degree of measurable quantization to them (as themal radiation comes from electrons moving to a lower energy state).
If you could explain to me why the spectrum is continuous for all frequencies and not just the wavelengths corresponding to difference in energy levels in the atoms that emit the radiation, I would be very grateful.