03 October 2024

Significance of Planck's constant (h):

Planck's constant is fundamental to quantum mechanics, which describes the behaviour of particles and waves on the atomic scale. It's also essential for understanding how atoms and subatomic particles move, and how quantum mechanics and modern electronics operate.

German physicist Max Planck discovered Planck's constant, represented by the symbol h, in 1900 while studying blackbody radiation. 

Planck was trying to develop a formula to describe how objects emit radiant energy based on their heat. He observed that existing formulas didn't accurately describe the results for all temperatures. To keep his formula accurate, he defined that energy could only be emitted in whole increments of a value. He calculated this increment value from observational data, which became known as Planck's constant.

The value of Planck's constant is 6.626 × 10⁻³⁴ Js.

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