![]() We can now understand the cause of this discrete energy ' quanta' of Quantum Physics because Standing waves only exist and interact at discrete frequencies, like notes on the string of a guitar. discrete like a particle) and led to the paradox that light behaved both as a continuous e-m wave ( Maxwell, Einstein) as well as a discrete particle/photon ( Planck, Einstein). This quanta of light energy soon became known as the ' photon' (i.e. However, his work on the photoelectric effect confirmed that light energy was only emitted and absorbed by electrons in discrete amounts or quanta. It is ironic that in 1921 Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery, though he never believed in particles and acknowledged that he did not know the cause of the discrete energy transfers ( photons) which were contradictory to his continuous field theory of matter. ( Albert Einstein, On Quantum Physics, 1954)Īlbert Einstein (1905) used Planck's relationship to explain the results of the photoelectric effect which showed that the energy E of ejected electrons was dependent upon the frequency f of incident light as described in the equation E=hf. Despite remarkable partial gains, the problem is still far from a satisfactory solution. Moreover, it has shattered the whole framework of classical mechanics and electrodynamics and set science a fresh task: that of finding a new conceptual basis for all physics. Without this discovery it would not have been possible to establish a workable theory of molecules and atoms and the energy processes that govern their transformations. This discovery became the basis of all twentieth-century research in physics and has almost entirely conditioned its development ever since. To arrive at results consistent with the relevant experiments, radiation of a given frequency f had to be treated as though it consisted of energy atoms (photons) of the individual energy hf, where h is Planck's universal constant. In the year nineteen hundred, in the course of purely theoretical (mathematical) investigation, Max Planck made a very remarkable discovery: the law of radiation of bodies as a function of temperature could not be derived solely from the Laws of Maxwellian electrodynamics. It is useful to begin with a quote from Albert Einstein on Max Planck's fundamental contribution to Quantum Physics. ![]() (Max Planck, surveying his own career in his Scientific Autobiography) Introduction On Planck's Constant h and the Relationship between Frequency f and Energy E in E=hfĮxplaining the Discrete Energy States of both Light (quanta / photons) and Matter as discovered in Quantum Physics ( Max Planck)Ī new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light,īut rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up to now, that will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future. I was, therefore, from the day of its origination, occupied with the task of giving it a real physical meaning … ( Max Planck, 1919 Nobel Prize address, 'The Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory') ![]() ![]() Introduction: Max Planck - Milo Wolff - Max Planck: Planck's Constant h - Max Planck Biography - Topīut even if the radiation formula should prove to be absolutely accurate it would after all be only an interpolation formula found by happy guesswork, and would thus leave one rather unsatisfied.
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