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| In physics, the ultraviolet catastrophe , also called the Rayleigh-Jeans catastrophe, is the classical prediction, first made in the late 19th century, that an ideal black body A hypothetical object capable of absorbing all the electromagnetic radiation falling on it black body at thermal equilibrium will emit radiation with infinite power. As this is clearly shown by observation to be false, it was one of the first clear indications of problems with classical physics. In 1900, Max Plancks German physicist whose explanation of blackbody radiation in the context of quantized energy emissions initiated quantum theory (1858-1947) Max Planck's solution of this problem led to one of the early portions of quantum mechanics The branch of quantum physics that accounts for matter at the atomic level; an extension of statistical mechanics based on quantum theory (especially the Pauli exclusion principle) quantum mechanics . . |
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At the end of the 19th century most scientists thought that classical physics (built upon Newton 's mechanics and Maxwell's electromagnetism) reigned supreme and could explain all aspects of matter and radiation. There appeared to be just a few things which needed to be fully understood. One of these was the nature of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from a so-called 'Black Body'. This work provided a crucial first step away from classical physics. A large effort was expended on measuring, and then trying to explain the spectrum of frequencies in the radiation emitted from a Black Body. The dominant frequency depended on the temperature of the Black Body but no one could find a single theory to describe the entire frequency spectrum. Theories based on existing classical ideas predicted an ever increasing intensity of radiation as the frequency of the radiation increased towards the ultraviolet domain. This was popularly dubbed the 'ultraviolet catastrophe'. Clearly, these theoretical predictions had to be wrong, otherwise the people studying Black Bodies would have been severely injured by the high intensity of radiation. |
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