Lesson Plan: Teaching Planck’s Law and Blackbody Radiation through Climate-related Examples

Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.

1.Introduce the topic	• Discuss the concept of electromagnetic radiation. • Proceed with your existing lesson plan to explain Planck’s Law.
2. Conduct an activity using an interactive visualization tool	• Next, discuss how the Planck equation can be used to plot blackbody curves of objects with different temperatures and the relationship between temperature and peak wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. • Now, explore the topic in an interactive and engaging manner through a visualization tool and associated activity: • Download PhET’s tool, “Blackbody Spectrum” from  https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/blackbody-spectrum • Download an activity developed by the National Science Teaching Association titled “Exploring Planck’s Law” that was designed to be used with PhET’s “Blackbody Radiation” tool from  http://static.nsta.org/connections/highschool/201512Worksheets.pdf. •  With the help of this activity, you can explain how Planck’s Law can be used to plot blackbody curves of objects with different temperatures, and the relationship between temperature and peak wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. • The activity contains several questions to be answered while using PhET’s “Blackbody Radiation” tool. • An answer key for teachers can be found at http://static.nsta.org/connections/highschool/201512WorksheetsKeys.pdf
3. Conduct a classroom/laboratory activity	• Introduce the Stefan-Boltzmann Law as a means of calculating the total flux of energy emitted by a blackbody. Stress on how this law can be used to calculate surface temperatures of different blackbodies. • Discuss the topic of energy balance and planetary temperatures in the solar system and stress on calculating surface temperature of planet Earth based on solar energy flux received. • Introduce the greenhouse effect of Earth’s atmosphere and discuss how the surface temperature of Earth increases from a bare blackbody Earth to a blackbody Earth with a 1-layer atmosphere. • Now, explore the topic in detail through a classroom/laboratory activity, “The Layer Model Approximation to the Greenhouse Effect”, designed by David Archer, the University of Chicago. • Go to http://cybele.bu.edu/courses/gg612fall99/gg612lab/lab1.html • Conduct the activity in this exercise.

 

Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:

• • How can Planck’s Law be used to plot blackbody curves of objects at different temperatures?
• • How can the Stefan-Boltzmann Law be used to calculate the surface temperature of blackbodies?
• • Why does the surface temperature of Earth increase due to the greenhouse effect of the Earth’s atmosphere?

The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:

• • apply Planck’s Law to plot the blackbody curve of an object at a specific temperature
• • apply the Stefan-Boltzmann Law to determine the surface temperature of a blackbody
• • calculate the surface temperature of the Earth based on the solar energy flux
• • explain the effect of the greenhouse effect of the Earth’s atmosphere on the surface temperature of the Earth

If you or your students would like to explore the topic further, these additional resources will be useful.

Reading	• A reading, “Energy Balance and Planetary Temperatures”, from the American Chemical Society (ACS):  https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/energybalance.html
Reading	A reading, “A Single-Layer Atmosphere Model, How Atmospheric Warming Works”, from the American Chemical Society (ACS): https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/atmosphericwarming/singlelayermodel.html
Micro-lecture (video)	A micro-lecture (video), “Our First Climate Model Naked Planet”, from David Archer, the University of Chicago: http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1090132/uiconf_id/20652192/entry_id/1_9fnkm5sc/embed/auto?
Micro-lecture (video)	A micro-lecture (video), “Energy Balance with a Greenhouse Atmosphere”, from David Archer, the University of Chicago: http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1090132/uiconf_id/20652192/entry_id/1_znqmr7tt/embed/auto?
Visualization	A visualization tool, “Planetary Energy Balance”, from UCAR Center for Science Education: https://scied.ucar.edu/planetary-energy-balance

1	Visualization, “Blackbody Spectrum”ANDAssociated Activity, “Exploring Planck’s Law”	PhET Interactive Simulations, the University of Colorado Boulder
2	Classroom/Laboratory Activity, “The Layer Model Approximation to the Greenhouse Effect”	David Archer, the University of Chicago
3	Additional Resources	American Chemical Society; David Archer, the University of Chicago; UCAR Center for Science Education
3	Images	http://cybele.bu.edu/courses/gg612fall99/gg612lab/lab1.html https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/blackbody-spectrum

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