Subject: SUMMARY MAX PLANCK

From: elewars <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 12:44:53 -0400

Wed, 2000 Oct 11

Here is the summary of replies, #1--#8 below,  to my questions.
I thank all who answered, and I wish I could have responded to all
individually.
Apparently h stands for Hilfsgroesse (#5).
I have since learned that Dec 14 may be a more appropriate anniversary
than Oct 19 (see e.g. John Ranck, #4 below).
Strange that few _if any_ books bother to say what h stands for, when it
is one of the basic constants of our universe:  "Father knew, in his own
words, that his discovery of the new natural constant had the same
significance as that of Copernicus", T. S. Kuhn, "Black-Body Radiation
and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894-1912", University of Chicago Press,
chicago, 1978, page 285.

Thanks again

EL
===

The questions:

Monday, 2000 Oct 2

Hello,

On October 19, 1900, Max Planck discovered the quantum discontinuity of
blackbody radiation and sowed the basis for the calculations we all use.

QUESTIONS:

(1) When was the fundamental constant first denoted _h_?  And why _h_?
What word does h stand for?
(I think in classical physics, too, energy x time is "action", but that
starts with _a_.)

(2) Have there been any announcements of the big celebrations that must
surely be planned for the work that marked the transition from classical

to modern physics, revolutionized much of science, and laid the
foundations of new industries?

thanks

E. Lewars
===========
the replies:

#1
You might try the history of chemistry list

eric scerri
Eric Scerri ,
Visiting Professor,
UCLA,
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry,
607 Charles E. Young Drive East,
Los Angeles,  CA 90095-1569
USA

E-mail :   [email-masked]
---------
#2
ar E.,

1. h is used for action in physics.

2. The more important celebrations seem to have been arranged by
physicists, eg the APS.

Alejandro Pisanty

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
.  .
     Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
UNAM  -  Educacion Abierta y a Distancia
Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
Tel. (+52-5) 622-8713, 622-8633 Fax 550-8405
------------
#3
Hello,

my physics text book told me, that this topic was introduced as _quantum

hypothesis_, may be this is responisble for the _h_.

with best regards

Alex
---

Dr. Alexander Hofmann
Institut fuer Angewandte Chemie Berlin-Adlershof e.V.
Richard-Willstaetter-Str. 12

D-12489 Berlin

[email-masked]

Tel.: +49-30-6392-4408
Fax.: +49-30-6392-4350

http://www.aca-berlin.de
---------------
#4
Actually, Planck presented his formula for the radiation density "On
an Improvement of Wien's Radiation Law" on October 19.  This was
simply a formula for interpolation between Wien's and Rayleigh's
radiation laws and had (at that time) no theoretical foundations.

He laid out the theoretical foundations for the radiation law
(including his restatement of Boltzmann's entropy as S = k ln W and
the necessity of the quantum of energy) in the paper "On the Theory of
the Energy Distribution Law in the Normal Spectrum" which he presented
to the German Physical Society on December 14, 1900.

It is ironic that Planck was the first to use the constant k which now
carries Boltzmann's name.

> (1) When was the fundamental constant first denoted _h_?  And why
_h_?
> What word does h stand for?
> (I think in classical physics, too, energy x time is "action", but
that
> starts with _a_.)

This doesn't directly answer the above question and it was written
long afterward, but in 1958, Planck wrote (in "Physikalische
Abhandlungen und Vortra(umlaut)ge, Vol1, p. 700):  "Now we have to
consider the distribution of energy E_N [read E sub N] among the N
resonators of frequency (nu).  If E_N were regarded as an infinitely
divisible quantity, the distribution could be performed in an infinite
number of ways.  We consider, however -- and this is the essential
point of the whole computation -- E_N as composed of a finite number
of discrete equal parts and employ for this purpose the natural
constant h = 6.65 x 10^-27 erg sec. This constant multiplied by the
common frequency (nu) of the resonators gives the energy element
(epsilon) in ergs, and by dividing E_N by (epsilon) we obtain the
number P of energy elements which are distributed among the
resonators."

In a letter to Robert Wood in 1931, Planck wrote: " [the ultraviolet
catastrophe] ... can be prevented by assuming that energy is forced,
at the outset, to remain together in certain quanta.  This was purely
a formal assumption and I really did not give it much thought except
that, noo matter what the cost, I must bring about a positive result."

Sorry, I don't immediately have my hands on more of the original
sources.

On with the celebration, but I think December 14 is the date we ought
to memorialize.

John P. Ranck
Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, PA 17022
------------------
#5

       "Christoph, van Wuellen,C 3,27870"
<[email-masked]>

As far as I recall, Planck himself introduced "h". It stands for
"Hilfsgroesse", german for "auxiliary quantity".

C.v.W.
----------
#6

>Date: Tue, 03 Oct 2000 10:24:20 -0700
>From: Karl Scherer <[email-masked]>
>Reply-To: [email-masked]
>Organization: Genentech, Inc.
>X-Sender: "Karl Scherer" <[email-masked]>
>X-Accept-Language: en
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: R <[email-masked]>
>Subject: Re: CCL:MAX PLANCK, QUANTUM THEORY
>
>maybe it derives from german 'Hohlraum' (~black body)? Black body
>radiation was what initially led him to the discovery of the constant.
>
>Karl
>R wrote:
>>
>> >Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2000 19:18:47 -0400
>> >From: elewars <[email-masked]>
>> >Subject: CCL:MAX PLANCK, QUANTUM THEORY
>> >To: [email-masked]
>> >MIME-version: 1.0
>> >X-Accept-Language: en
>> >Sender: "Computational Chemistry List" <[email-masked]>
>> >Precedence: bulk
>> >
>> >Monday, 2000 Oct 2
>> >
>> >Hello,
>> >
>> >On October 19, 1900, Max Planck discovered the quantum discontinuity
of
>> >blackbody radiation and sowed the basis for the calculations we all
use.
>> >
>> >QUESTIONS:
>> >
>> >(1) When was the fundamental constant first denoted _h_?  And why
_h_?
>> >What word does h stand for?
>> >(I think in classical physics, too, energy x time is "action", but
that
>> >starts with _a_.)
>> >
>> >(2) Have there been any announcements of the big celebrations that
must
>> >surely be planned for the work that marked the transition from
classical
>> >to modern physics, revolutionized much of science, and laid the
>> >foundations of new industries?
>> >
>> >thanks
>> >
>> >E. Lewars
>> >====

-------------
#7

         "Elizabeth A. Abbott" <[email-masked]>

Hi Dr. Lewars,

I don't know the answer to the 'etymology' of Planck's constant, but I'm

interested!  I checked my textbooks and note that Bohm's _Quantum
Theory_
states Wien's law (on p. 6) as

U(nu)d nu = nu ^3 exp(- h nu / kappa T) d nu

where kappa is Boltzmann's constant and h is Planck's constant.

Then there is a footnote which says, "Wien did not actually introduce
Planck's constant, h, but instead a constant of the form h/kappa (where
kappa is Boltzmann's constant)."  It's not clear to me exactly what
Wien's
formulation was, then.  Perhaps Planck's choice of h was influenced by
Wien's choice of h/kappa.  Wien used thermodynamic arguments to arrive
at
his law, so perhaps his choice of h is thermodynamically informed.

Or maybe h comes from 'harmonic' oscillator??  That seems unlikely,
since
the oscillator is not required to be harmonic.

Verha"ltnis is German for proportion or ratio.  That's just a wild stab
in
the dark.

Hope this trivia is not useless,
Liz
(just a lowly student!)
---------
#8
Huub van Dam                               E-mail: [email-masked]

CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory                  phone: +44-1925-603362
Daresbury, Warrington                         fax: +44-1925-603634
Cheshire, UK
WA4 4AD

Not as far as I know. I haven't even heard of anything to commemorate
the 75th
anniversary of the Schroedinger equation next year...

Huub
================
=============