Wien's displacement law from Plank's formula

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the inaccuracies in a textbook regarding Wien's displacement law derived from Planck's law. Participants confirm that the book incorrectly uses the constant "5" instead of "3" when transitioning from frequency to wavelength formulations. The error stems from the book's reliance on radiance per unit frequency rather than radiance per unit wavelength. A referenced article by R. Das provides clarification on these discrepancies.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Planck's law and its formulations
  • Familiarity with Wien's displacement law
  • Knowledge of radiance concepts in physics
  • Basic grasp of wavelength and frequency relationships
NEXT STEPS
  • Read R. Das's article on wavelength and frequency-dependent formulations of Wien's displacement law
  • Study the derivation of Wien's displacement law from Planck's law
  • Explore the differences between radiance per unit frequency and radiance per unit wavelength
  • Investigate common errors in physics textbooks related to thermodynamics and radiation
USEFUL FOR

Physics students, educators, and researchers interested in thermodynamics, radiation laws, and the accuracy of educational materials in the field of physical sciences.

En Joy
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Show us what you tried, and maybe someone can point out your mistake. Or we can verify that you did it correctly and the book has a mistake! ?:)
 
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En Joy said:
The "5" does not refer to the previous equation written in the book but to the one which results from the Planck's law written in terms of the wavelength (which is not merely the one written in terms of frequency substituting c/\lambda to the frequency).

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jtbell said:
Show us what you tried, and maybe someone can point out your mistake. Or we can verify that you did it correctly and the book has a mistake! ?:)
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En Joy said:
No, x is not that, it's \hbar c/\lambda k T infact it then writes the Wien's displacement law in terms of wavelength, but the book omits to write that then you should use the other Planck equation (with wavelength) and it's a quite bad omission; I understand your concern.

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The book is wrong. If you follow the steps, the 5 should indeed be a 3.

The book is apparently trying to follow the "Derivation from Planck's Law",
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wien's_displacement_law
but used the wrong ##u## (radiance per unit frequency instead of radiance per unit wavelength).

What book is this?? Bad books like this one should be flagged and made known, so we can all avoid them.
 
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I have noticed these discussions on Wien's displacement law (and number 3 vs 5). I happened to write an article trying to clarify these very issues last year in Journal of Chemical Education. Please take a look at it. Its reference is:
R. Das, Wavelength and frequency-dependent formulations of Wien's displacement
law, J. Chem. Educ. 92 (2015) 1130–1134.
 
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