This article describes what the Planck hypothesis is , who its creator is and how important it has become for the development of modern science. The importance of the idea of quantization for the entire microworld is also shown.
Smartphone and quantum physics
The modern world around us is very different in technology from everything that was familiar a hundred years ago. All this became possible only due to the fact that at the dawn of the twentieth century, scientists overcame the barrier and finally realized: the substance on the smallest scale is not continuous. And this era was discovered by its assumption, a wonderful man - Max Planck.
Planck Biography
His name is given to: one of the physical constants, the quantum equation, the scientific community in Germany, an asteroid, a crater on the moon, a space telescope. His image was embossed on coins and printed on stamps and banknotes. What kind of person was Max Planck? He was born in the mid-nineteenth century into a German noble family of the poor. Among his ancestors were many good lawyers and ministers of the church. M. Plank received a good education, but fellow physicists jokingly called him "self-taught." The scientist got basic knowledge from books.
Planck's hypothesis was born from an assumption that he derived theoretically. In his scientific career, he adhered to the principle "science is most important." During the First World War, Planck tried to maintain ties with foreign colleagues from Germany's opposing countries. The arrival of the Nazis caught him in the position of director of a large scientific community - and the scientist sought to protect his employees, helped those who fled the regime to go abroad. So the Planck hypothesis was not the only one for which he was respected. However, he never openly spoke out against Hitler, obviously realizing that he would not only harm himself, but would not be able to help those who needed it. Unfortunately, many physicists did not accept this position of M. Planck and stopped correspondence with him. He had five children, and only the youngest survived his father. The eldest son was taken by the First, the middle - the Second World War. Both daughters did not survive childbirth. At the same time, contemporaries noted that only at home, Planck was himself.
Quantum Sources
From school, the scientist was interested in the second law of thermodynamics. It says: any process goes only with increasing chaos and loss of energy or mass. He was the first to formulate it in this way - in terms of entropy, which can only increase in a thermodynamic system. Later, it was this work that led to the formulation of Planck's famous hypothesis. He was also one of those who introduced the tradition of separating mathematics and physics, practically creating a theoretical section of the latter. Before him, all natural sciences were mixed, and experiments were carried out by individuals in laboratories, which almost did not differ from the alchemical ones.
Quantum hypothesis
Studying the entropy of electromagnetic waves in terms of oscillators and relying on experimental data obtained two days before, on October 19, 1900, Planck presented to other scientists a formula that would later be called by his name. She linked energy, wavelength and radiation temperature (in the extreme case for a completely black body). The next night, his colleagues led experiments by Rubens to confirm this theory. And she was true! However, in order to theoretically justify the hypothesis arising from this formula and at the same time avoid mathematical difficulties such as infinities, Planck had to admit that the energy is not radiated by a continuous stream, as previously thought, but in separate portions (E = hν). This approach destroyed all existing ideas about a solid. Planck's quantum hypothesis revolutionized physics.
Quantization effects
At first, the scientist did not realize the importance of his discovery. For some time, the formula he derived was used only as a convenient way to reduce the number of mathematical operations for calculation. At the same time, both Planck and other scientists used the continuous Maxwell equations. I was confused only by the constant h, which in no way managed to give physical meaning. Later, only Albert Einstein and Paul Ehrenfest, understanding the new phenomena of radioactivity and trying to find a mathematical basis for optical spectra, realized the importance of what the Planck hypothesis is. They say that the report, on which the formula for quantizing energy was first voiced, opened the era of new physics. Einstein was probably the first to recognize its beginning. So this is his merit too.
What is quantized
All states that any elementary particles can take are discrete. An electron in a trap can only be at certain levels. Excitation of an atom, like the opposite process - emission, also occurs in jumps. Any electromagnetic interaction is an exchange of quanta of the corresponding energy. Mankind has curbed the energy of the atom only thanks to an understanding of the discreteness of energy levels. We hope that now readers will not have a question about what Planck’s hypothesis is and what its impact on the modern world, and therefore, of each of the people.