...from Μ. Planck

Planck The methodology of physicists began from an ideal model, the "black body", which could absorb all the emitted radiation. A black body could be a hole. A pipe which is bent in various parts could absorb light, because light, after successive absorptions of the walls of pipe would disappear. What happens to a warm black body? It radiates electromagnetic radiation. The radiation is less intense in high and low frequencies, while it is more intense in medium frequencies. Classical Physics accepted that almost all radiation should be emitted in high frequencies, while in low frequencies observation and classical Physics were accordant.

This paradox was fascinating for many scientists, among them, M. Planck. Hard working and meticulous he was traditional and he could never be characterised as rebellious. From 1895 up to 1900 Planck studies the electromagnetic spectrum; in particular the quantity of radiation which is emitted by a black body in various frequencies. In 1900 he accomplished it, not with the aid of calmness and cold scientific sharpness (that he believed in), but after a while of desperation, luck, insight and a lot of mathematics. His work brought him the Nobel Prize. This is what M. Klein -a philosopher specialised in Physics- tells us.

The next step for him was to announce something even more revolutionary (even though he was not happy at all, because he had not followed the traditional way of thinking): Atoms absorb and emit energy in discrete packets, quanta. Energy could not be divided anymore in infinite quantities, but in finite quantities and it should be related to frequency of v according to the equation

Ε = h ν

, where h is a new constant, equal to 6, 55 * 10-27 erg*sec

Planck's betrayal

What could be an equivalent quantity to quantum in our every day life? J. Gribbin describes it characteristically: "The automatic machines in the bank of my neighbourhood function the same way. When I place my credit card, the machine will give me any sum, provided that this sum is multiple to 5 pounds. The automatic machine cannot me give no intermediary sum (or no sum), but this does not mean that intermediary sums, as 8, 47 pounds, do not exist."