12.11 The Rayleig –Jeans′Radiation Formula
The law of equipartition of energy was applied by Lord Rayleigh and Jeans to derive a formula for distribution of energy in the black body radiation. Every vibrating system has, in general, different modes of vibration. Each of these modes corresponds to one degree of freedom*.
According to Rayleigh and Jeans, an amount of energy 1/2 kT may be assigned to each degree of freedom. To develop the idea, we shall for simplicity consider a cubicalbox of side a containing a medium capable of sustaining vibrations. One corner of the cube will be taken as the origin of co-ordinates and its three sides meeting at that corner as the axes OX, OY and OZ. Since the boundary walls of the cube are supposed to be fixed, ...
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