light quanta
The equation explained
In wordsThe entropy of monochromatic radiation in the volume v, less its entropy in the volume v₀, equals its energy over the constant β times the frequency, times the natural logarithm of v over v₀.OverviewSection 6 starts again from section 4's result: how the entropy of monochromatic radiation of low density changes with its volume. It is the same logarithm of the volume ratio that section 5 found for a gas.Full explanationThis is section 4's last display, repeated so that section 6 can interpret it by Boltzmann's principle. It holds for monochromatic radiation of energy in a narrow band at the frequency , dilute enough for Wien's law to apply, when its volume changes from to with its energy unchanged. Section 5 found for independent points, a gas or the molecules of a dilute solution, the same logarithm of the volume ratio with a different coefficient. The next display rewrites the radiation's coefficient so that the two can be compared letter for letter.Every stepSection 4's entropy of radiation of energy in the band filling the volume , from Wien's law.Subtract the same expression for the volume . The in the two brackets cancels.Everything but the two volumes cancels in the quotient of the logarithms: the printed line.Also