This has been a research topic of mine for days now. I understand the Rayleigh-Jeans law and how it leads to the ultraviolet catastrophe. I have been searching for a clear, conceptual explanation of how quantizing the energy leads to Planck's curve dropping below the Rayleigh-Jean curve. The best explanation I have found is
The classical view treats all electromagnetic modes of the cavity as equally likely because you can add an infinitesimal amount of energy to any mode. The quantum view expressed in the Planck hypothesis is that you either add the energy of a whole photon, or you don't add any at all. Since the excitation of a high frequency photon takes an energy high above the average thermal energy, it is therefore less likely. Thus the radiation curve falls progressively further below the classical expectation.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mod7.html#c2
Why does quantizing the energy make the probability of higher frequency EMR less likely? The explanation references the excitation of a photon, I am not sure what that means. A non-mathematical explanation would be appreciated as I am trying to explain this to high school students eventually in an intuitive way.
Furthermore, I was hoping to list some statements and if you could give feedback if they are true or false.
- The frequencies were also quantized in Planck's model
- All photons of a particular wavelength have the same amplitude in the cavity
Any help would be much appreciated.
