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Only a handful of

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individuals in recorded history have

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been lucky enough to have their own [Man wearing prison clothing]

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number. Avogadro has one. So do you Euler, Newton, and Hubble.

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And don't forget about

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Nathaniel fifteen, and we're sure you've all

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heard of that one. Yet another scientific

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brainiac to lay claim to a number of

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his very own was German theoretical

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physicist and life of every party Max [Max Planck wearing a party hat]

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Carl Ernst Ludwig Planck. This guy had

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almost as many brilliant ideas floating

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around in his head as he had middle names.

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Planck's Constant, the number that

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totally put him on the map,

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is 6.6262 x 10 to the -34 joule-seconds. [Plancks constant example]

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We have to admit, that it's an awfully good number.

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But what is this mysterious number and

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what's so special about it? And what in

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the name of all that is good and holy is

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a joule-second? Yeah, we hear your cry. A joule-second

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is not part of a diamond-encrusted wristwatch, although [Diamond wrist watch ticks]

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if you'd like to get us one of those as a "thank you"

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for teaching you about Max Planck,

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well, we won't complain. All right, let's

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break it down. A joule is a unit for [Definition of joule unit]

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measuring energy, and a second is one-

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sixtieth of a minute (you know, you knew

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that one), so a jewel second is a unit of

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energy over a certain span of time. Like

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any great scientific constant worth its

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salt, Planck's Constant is also

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represented by a single letter in the

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interest of simplicity. You can just [Planck's constant with the alphabet]

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write the letter h instead of writing

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out the entire thing. The alphabet says

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"You're welcome." Okay, now what is this thing, and

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why does it deserve take up valuable [Man's head opens and words go into his brain]

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space in our brains? Well, in the course of

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Planck's experiments, in which he was

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trying to understand a little more about

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atomic theory (in particular the question

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of whether or not there is a continuous

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fluid spectrum of energy), what Planck

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discovered was that, no: energy was [Energy, Frequency and Velocity drinking coffee together]

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something of an oddball in that department.

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He proposed that energy instead came in

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units called "quanta." Yep, the root of

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the word quantum, which is the root of the

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TV show title called Quantum Leap, which is [TV screen with the TV show Quantum Leap]

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getting off topic... But Planck concluded

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that the smallest possible unit of

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energy was 6.62626 x 10 to the -34 joule-seconds,

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and that's how he got himself his own number. If your're

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feeling jealous of Mr. Planck and would

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like a number yourself, well, 6.6262 x 10 to the -35 [Man holding news paper with Planck's constant on front page]

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joule-seconds is totally available.

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