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At the risk of sounding as though im attempting to sound intelligent. i know that in the equation E=hv, h (Planck's constant) is 6.6x10 to the power of -34. what i dont understand is how he came up with that particular number as the constant....
so can anyone explain this to me?
not sure off the top of my head, but he probably studied the relationship between energy and velocity, realized it was a direct relationship, and calculated the constant from the ratio of the two.
Hahaha, you want us to explain to you a man's life work? He wasn't just any man either, he was one of the greatest physicists to ever live.
Ask a physics professor with a lot of time on his hands.
no i do not wish for an explanation of the mans life work, i was only wondering about the process of how one 'finds' a constant, and used Planck as an example.
I think I gave a pretty decent explanation of how you "find" a constant.
He's right, to find a constant, you simply calculate the relationship between two things. We do it all the time, but the most valid example I can think of is money.
1$ is worth four quarters, so how many quarters is 10$? The constant is 1:4... it's a really simple thing. Now, if you didn't know how much the value of a quarter was, you'd experiment. In this example, by attempting to purchase something, and comparing how many quarters you need as opposed to how many dollars.
Now, admittedly, when your dealing with atomic and astronomical calculations, things get a LOT more complex, but once you finally have the numbers (no small achievement), it's really easy to switch it back and fourth, simply by applying the constant to the value.
he was an alien! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Caspian
physics was my worst subject. i could never understand it. still cannot!
i'll stick to my biology! :p
im assuming its the only number that worked for all the light tests he did
or something liek that. cuz you know how the energy curve goes up, but then comes down (catastrohpe!).Quote:
In 1900 he introduced Planck's constant as a part of his accurate formulation of the distribution of the radiation emitted by a blackbody, which is a perfect absorber of radiant energy.
This thread makes my eyes itch.
He didn't find a constant. He picked a random number and stuck it into the equation. :D Seriously though, eestlin and udsuna gave a good explanationQuote:
no i do not wish for an explanation of the mans life work, i was only wondering about the process of how one 'finds' a constant, and used Planck as an example.
Avogadro's Number > Planck's Constant
by about 57 magnitudes of ten.
ok, i understand now why Planck used the constant that he did. incidently, Planck was indeed a great Physicist, although many would say he could have been greater had he not been so obsessed with trying to reconcile classical physics with quantum physics. now that ive said that, could you close this thread please?
"he could have been greater had he not been so obsessed with trying to reconcile classical physics with quantum physics."
Gah, but that's so important! It's pretty much THE most important thing to achieve in modern physics.
i think eoff needs more intelligent discuss, not less.
dear god yes.
However, Planck's Constant > Avogadro's Number by an unmeasureable amount of coolness and/or usefullness :p.Quote:
Originally Posted by Denmark
The only constant I'm pissed about is Boltzmann's constant, b = R/n. Seriously, WTF? What a bastard, he can just divide 2 constants and name the result after himself?
its not a V, its a "nu" (greek letter for N whose simbol is a curled v) and it represents the frecuency of the light wave.Quote:
Originally Posted by eestlinc
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000...electric2.html