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Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...

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Chapter 23<br />

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe<br />

The plain fact is that there are no conclusions. (James Jeans)<br />

Examples ... show how difficult it <strong>of</strong>ten is for an experimenter to<br />

interpret his results without the aid <strong>of</strong> mathematics. (Lord Rayleigh)<br />

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe also referred to as the Rayleigh-Jeans catastrophe<br />

refers to the apparent infinite energy radiating from a source <strong>of</strong> ultraviolet<br />

light without frequency limitation, according to classical linear wave<br />

mechanics.<br />

Figure 23.1: The black curve showing the radiance <strong>of</strong> the classical theory,<br />

increases to infinity as the wavelength tends to zero, while the experimental<br />

curves decay to zero.<br />

103

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