What is Planck's constant?

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academics 1:14 What is Planck's constant?

By:

Erin Williams

25 Jul 2019 686

The popular Netflix series, "Stranger Things," uses Planck's constant in the final episode of Season 3. Martin Fraas, an assistant professor of mathematics at Virginia Tech, explains why the number for Planck's constant has changed over the years and the inaccuracy of "Stranger Things" portrayal.

[00:00:03] >> Planck's constant is a fundamental constant of nature that came at the beginning of the 20th century with Quantum Mechanics. So if you watched Stranger Things you know that this number is very, very useful. Well, actually, not this one. This one would not help you because in Stranger Things they use a different number. [00:00:23] Now why they have a different number in Stranger Things because they used the value of the constant from 2013 which by itself was somewhat a controversy because Stranger Things did not happen in 2013. The movie is set back in the 80s, where the number was yet different. Exactly why it changed is that people changed the definition of kilogram. [00:00:46] So when you measure flour when you cook or something and you measure one kilogram of something. The scientists need a much more precise definition of what is one kilogram. And actually, just recently in 20 May 2019 a new definition came into place and as part of this new definition they fixed the value of Planck's constant.

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