#planck's constant

[inkintheinternet]

Star Trek and the Kardashev Scale

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

How can we better understand the exponential progress in technology that is changing our world. To do that we first have to have a proper grasp on the "collective consciousness" of the world.

I think this is a term famously coined by Elon Musk regarding social media or specifically X (formerly Twitter.)

Before the readers start to wonder what has this modern term in the era of the Internet, got to do with the technology that came before it and was its foundation. What I'm referring to in this article is two different mindsets that became a part of the collective consciousness of a people in regions around the world, the joining factor was writings, television, radio, storytelling, experiences, and of course education.

It is my deduction that two general forms of thinking developed on each continent. And I give credit to Mary Shelley for this very elegant and clear metaphor: like Victor Frankenstein (science) and Elizabeth (aesthetics.)

The science we have today is branched into several disciplines. But what was the earliest science? I think it was physics, simply because so much of what we would naturally think about falls under the umbrella of it; motion, energy, heat, then comes complicated and not so obvious things like gravity, particle physics, and quantum mechanics.

The birth of science is from philosophy, and then the merging of it with alchemy. Many regard modern science to have evolved in Western Europe, notably with the work of Sir Isaac Newton, but the roots of science could be traced back to Ancient Egypt, China, India, and Greece.

However, even philosophers must have known that thoughts, ideas, and concepts, without mathematics are just too vague. I think this is the exact point when philosophy started to turn into scientific theories. To quote the Scottish mathematician Lord Kelvin: "When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it."

At some time I think philosophy, mathematics, and alchemy, came together and formed the start of scientific thinking, perhaps Metaphysics (the meaning of which is still not accurately defined) was the intermediate  stage between philosophy and the application of mathematical measurements and experimentation to philosophical ideas and chemical substances, and this was the beginning of scientific thinking.

It's extraordinary to try to imagine how the science of particle physics and quantum mechanics could possibly have been discovered, and then progressed into so much of the technology that has brought about our modern civilization, considering the fact that scientists haven't seen the actual atom, even with today's high-tech sophisticated equipment.

In my opinion Quantum Mechanics was discovered before particle physics, and it started with the first photograph in France by Joseph Nicèphore in 1827, using the camera obscura. The photograph titled: 'Point de Vue' has survived, however, I didn't find in my research any record of a photograph taken prior to it, so I'm assuming it is the first. Nicèphore had the genuise idea to use light sensitive liquid on a plate and expose it to sunlight for several days in the dark chamber of the camera obscura. What he found was that rays of sunlight were carrying images of the surrounding. He named the process Heliographie or 'sun writing.'

Connected or not I do not know but the discovery of the first evidence of the atom was in 1828, and the electron was discovered in 1897 by English physicist J.J. Thomson.

It appears to me that the first photograph, which showed that sunlight could carry so much information as to print a whole photograph was an eye-opener towards discovering  Quantum Mechanics, and that light was so much more than what it appeared to be. It's very likely that the idea of capturing images must have been inspired by mirrors, and smooth reflective surfaces prior to the invention of mirrors.

Side note: The silver layered mirror was first invented by German chemist Justus von Liebig in 1835. Different types of mirrors go back 8,000 years.

In the 1900s German physicist Max Planck formulated the Planck's Constant, a scale for describing the behaviour of particles and waves on the atomic level. Planck's Constant is fundamental in the mathematical articulation of Quantum Mechanics.

To simplify this explanation, we have to go back to the fact that physicists cannot see an actual atom, it's just too small and so these are the scales at which Quantum Mechanics function, and classical mechanics is no longer applicable. So it has its own scale for describing it mathematically.

I did some research at the CERN website, and it turns out scientists identify atoms and subatomic particles through their effects on detectors and not direct observation - which so far is not possible. The effects of these particles and their mathematical description is their identity.

Before Planck's Constant there was a problem on how to measure a wave of light accurately, since the wave is hypothetically a continuum. That means the lenght division of a wave could be infinite, but if you count it as packets of photons that cannot be divided, it's possible to do accurate equations and mathematical descriptions.

He introduced the theory that photons are packets of "quanta" this way it was possible to do accurate calculations.

Side note: Photons are massless particles that comprise electromagnetic radiation, their energy after the Planck's Constant is calculated by their frequency - which is waves it propagates as it moves.

Albert Einstein used the Planck's Constant to describe why in the Photo Electric Effect there was a "threshold frequency" for the 'work function.' That is when photons hit a metal plate electrons are emitted, but the frequency of the photons has to be the suitable type for the particular electrons, for the transfer of energy to eject the electron - this phenomena is due to the Law of the Conservation of Energy (physics.)

Einstein won a Nobel Prize for his work on the Photo Electric Effect.

As a young boy Albert Einstein first got inspired from the needle of a compass, he was amazed and curious to discover what was the hidden force that guided the needle.

These were some clues about how those scientists became innovative, and there was a collective scientific consciousness.

While natural phenomena and nature are the ultimate sources of discovering new science, the motivation could stem from inspirational stories, like for example the first rockets was inspired by H.G. Well's science fiction book 'War of the Worlds.'

Science and technology get refined and improved with the accumulation of information, techniques, the mixing of different disciplines, and better mathematical solutions. We can see a very recent example in the Raptor engines of SpaceX rockets. The first Raptor looks like scrambled wires and rods, and then their appearance is improved as they are optimized with precision.

We have entered the era of artificial intelligence assisted  scientific research and progress. Our civilization is going through rapid changes. I often read that once we harness solar power on the scale of the Earth, instead of the use of fossil fuels, we will be categorized as a Type 2 Civilization on the Kardashev Scale.

In 1964, Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev wrote a paper in which he presented a hypothetical scale for alien civilizations. The paper titled: Transmission of Information by Extraterrestrial Civilizations.

He theorized that these civilizations could transmit more powerful signals based on how much energy they can harness. The theory went through updates by other astronomers over the years, including Carl Sagan who added decimal points and so Earth could figure in the percentage.

On the Kurzgesagt channel I saw a video that stated that the present Kardashev Scale has four categories:

1. A Type 1 Civilization that can harness all the energy of its planet.

2. A Type 2 can harness the energy of its star as well.

3. A Type 3 the energy of its galaxy

4. A Type 4 the energy of multiple galaxies

On Earth we are already using fossil fuels and other natural resources for energy, and solar power is also increasingly being used around the world. So are we a Type 1 Civilization going on Type 2? And suppose we were to expand our energy consumption to other planets, and if I were to say galaxies that's just science fiction. But hypothetically what would the effect be on the environment. I think in the updates to the theory that I read, the main point of the original theory was completely missed or overlooked. Nikolai Kardashev spoke about transmission of information. Consider information reaching a Type 1 Civilization from a Type 2 or 3 civilization, which could be realistic instead of science fiction. The information could be so advanced that it can bring new science and progress to the Type 1 Civilization. This type of universally expanded thinking (even science fiction) with the natural real world workings of our planet and the universe, I think are the keys to innovative thinking and new science.

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent science researcher/journalist

X/Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia

Email: arjuwan.writer@gmail.com

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Sources:

LibreTexts chemistry, photons

BBC, science focus, kardashev scale: what is it and where is earth listed?, alex hughes

Britannica, einstein and the photoelectric effect, gordon leslie squires, fact-checked by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

APS News, this month in physics history, einstein and the photoelectric effect

Tech Target, planck's constant, gavin wright

Live Science, who invented the mirror?, Joseph castro

Britannica, discovery of electrons, sharon bertsch mcgrayne, james trefil, all fact-checked by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Britannica, superunification and the planck era, frank h. shu, fact-checked by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Physlink.com, how did max planck determine the planck lenght?, question #644

Medium, walking the planck: the weird world of the littlest measure

Quotefancy, lord kelvin

Live Science, quantum mechanics: definitions, axioms, and key concepts of quantum physics, adam mann, contributions from robert cool

CERN, how a detector works

Harry Ransom Center, the nicèphore heliographe

PBS Space Time, planck's constant and the origin of quantum mechanics

University of Toronto, wsCH2, the origin of physics

ABC Science, photoelectric effect explained in simple words for beginners

[higgsbosom]

*gritting my teeth* i love science i love science i love science i lov

[dandelionsandderivatives]

"A little more of the same, Jane. What matter the planetesimal hypothesis or the quantum theory compared to such a dinner? Come, Jane, don't tell me you're ignorant of the quantum theory. A woman may get by without knowing about the planetesimal hypothesis but the quantum theory, Jane, is a necessity in any well-regulated household."

People are so very concerned with quantum mechanics in books written in the 30s.

I mean, I understand it was a very significant development at the time, but I'm still surprised that I've seen multiple novelists comment on it as a Significant Thing in the News.

[anonima-geek]

La Constante de Plank y el guantazo que te daba según la física cuántica de mi barrio

La Constante del Guantazo establece el número exacto de guantás por estupidez que deberíamos poder dar a más de uno de vez en cuando. Ahí lo llevas, Jose Mota.

De forma muy simple podemos establecer con un ejemplo sencillo la proporcionalidad entre la estupidez (argumento idiota) y su frecuencia f con el nº de ostias (E =👋🏻f).

Pero como la frecuencia f , la magnitud de la ofensa λ y la velocidad a la que se emite c, cumplen la función λf = c, podemos expresar E = 👋🏻c / λ.

Quidicí, en crishtiano der común der de mi barrio: las yoyas te tie'n que dole' tanto como me ofende lo que m'as disho murtiplicao por la velosida' a la que te justificah pa teneh raçón pasando de mi culo y dividio por la de veseh que me repiteh lo mihmo como si la téhnica old school delrputo disco ralla'o te diera máh raçón (lo de dividir biene guay porque si tuviera que repartir toda esa caña con una sola mano ¡au!).

¿Me aceptará la Fiscalía la Constante del Guantazo como argumento exonerador?

[libakarm]

im like 3 years late posting this but you will tolerate it

[dontcallittimetravel]

Happy deathday to Paul Dirac, otherwise known in the physics community as a reduced Planck constantly

[lovely-v]

This is a joke my roommate and I make whenever we lay on the floor

[butchnavi]

as a kid i used to hate sci-fi because I only cared about the characters and the scientific mumbo jumbo would bore me to death. as an adult who took pcm i don't know if i hate sci-fi even more or just think it's hilarious because i now UNDERSTAND the scientific mumbo jumbo but it literally makes no sense and is just random intellectual sounding words loosely connected with zero context to somehow explain the wildest things like just call it fantasy and stop embarrassing yourselves with these pseudoexplanations that literally make no sense -

[sciencesolutions]

[gloris-stuffs]

Planck Constant Movie

[johnlockbbc]

Rewatching stranger things why did Suzie (Dustin’s girlfriend) misquote Planck’s constant? HUH?

She says “6.62607004”

BUT I remembered Planck’s constant as “6.62607015” and I looked it up and Google confirms

Although I’m not like a genius physician so there might be a rule or something I don’t know about,,, Soo tumblr scientists??? Can you help?

(Edit: GUYS is it cause they didn’t know yet in ‘84??)

[nicolae]

Epistemology of Loop Quantum Gravity in the Context of Canonical Quantum Gravity

Sfetcu, Nicolae (2024), Epistemology of Loop Quantum Gravity in the Context of Canonical Quantum Gravity, Cunoașterea Științifică, 3:2, xxx,   Abstract In the quest to comprehend the fundamental nature of the universe, physicists have delved into the realms of quantum mechanics and general relativity. However, joining these two pillars of modern physics into a unified framework has been a…

[theswizzle16]

not knowing why I’m crying I hate having my period

[truphysics]

Ultraviolet Catastrophe

Introduction The Ultraviolet Catastrophe refers to a historical paradox in the theory of radiation of heated objects. This paradox resulted from the contradiction between the classical physics laws and experimental observations related to black body radiation at the end of the 19th century. Classical Predictions and the Problem According to the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation,…

[agent-troi]

i found this on reddit and i desperately need sam carter to explain it to me i’m a microbiologist i don’t know what a planck constant is help me lmao

[katriniac]

A long long time ago, there was a collection event in IkeSen that featured a pajama party/sleepover theme. IIRC, everyone's pajamas were easy to visualize based on the description, EXCEPT for Sasuke. The only reference for his was the Planck constant.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and Photoshop something fitting a mathematical equation related to slowing down.

A sloth kigurumi was perfect for that! I added the Planck constant and Sasuke's face. Viola!

OF COURSE I would get a set to match my ninjenius! 💚

Personally, I find kigurumi too hot to sleep in, so these would probably be worn for the fun of it rather than any practical use for sleeping.

But he still loves that I made us a matching set 😘

Question of The Day

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