![]() ![]() ![]() One experimental phenomenon that could not be adequately explained by classical physics was blackbody radiation (Figure 1.2.1 Soon, however, scientists began to look more closely at a few inconvenient phenomena that could not be explained by the theories available at the time. Thus matter and energy were considered distinct and unrelated phenomena. The universe appeared to be a simple and orderly place, containing matter, which consisted of particles that had mass and whose location and motion could be accurately described, and electromagnetic radiation, which was viewed as having no mass and whose exact position in space could not be fixed. They could calculate the motions of material objects using Newton’s laws of classical mechanics, and they could describe the properties of radiant energy using mathematical relationships known as Maxwell’s equations, developed in 1873 by James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish physicist. ![]() To understand how energy is quantized in blackbody radiationīy the late 19th century, many physicists thought their discipline was well on the way to explaining most natural phenomena. ![]()
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