WIEN'S DISPLACEMENT LAW

WIEN, WILLY. [WILHELM]. - A FUNDAMENTAL PAPER OF MODERN PHYSICS.

Ueber die Energievertheilung im Emissionsspectrum eines schwarzen Körpers.

Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1896. 8vo. Contemporary half cloth with gilt title to spine. Band 58 of "Annalen der Physik und Chemie". Library stamp to verso of title-page. Light wear to edges and capitals and a damp-stain to the lower part of the last three leaves. Otherwise a clean and well preserved copy. The entire volume offered. Pp. 662-669. [Entire volume: VIII, 776 pp. + 6 folded plates].

First edition of Wilhelm Wien's highly influential paper on the phenomenon of radiation, also known as Wien's displacement law.

Wien followed Ludwig Boltzmann's approach when incorporating electrodynamics and thermodynamics in investigating radiation and its characteristics.
"He argued that if a system reaches the same temperature by the increase of temperature or by the adiabatic compression of the volume containing heat radiation, it should yield the same energy distribution. Considering also the Doppler effect of the radiation, Wien arrived at an expression for energy distribution that states that the product of temperature and the wave length is a constant". (Mathew Chandrankunnel, Philosophy of physics, 2000, 4 p).
Wien's empirical observations functioned as a starting point for Max Planck who wanted prove the theoretical foundation for Wien's, wishing thus to justify the entropy law. Today Wien's approximation is also known as Wien-Planck law.

This phenomenon was coined "Wien's displacement law" because the energy density curve is displaced correspondingly to the temperature; it implies that the hotter an object is, the shorter the wavelength at which it will release most of its radiation. Wien's description of radiation awarded him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1911.
Wien's constant is today used in a wide range of different aspects of physics, e.g. cosmic microwave background, and the determination of how much energy is emitted from a light bulb.

Magie, "A Source Book in Physics". Pp. 597-600.

Other papers of interest contained in the present volume:
KOHLRAUSCH, F. Ueber Widerstandsmessungen von Electrolyten mit Wechselströmen durch das Dynamometer. Pp. 514-516.
BOLTZMANN, L. Zur Energetik. Pp. 595-598.
RYDBERG, J. J. Die Neuen Grundstoffe des Cleveïtgases. Pp. 674-679.
WIEN, W. Ueber die auf einer schweren Flüssigkeit möglichen Wellen von sehr Höhe. Pp. 729-735.
Etc.

Order-nr.: 43069