Planck's constant, denoted as , is a fundamental constant in quantum mechanics that describes the quantization of energy. Its derivation originates from Max Planck's work on blackbody radiation in the late 19th century. He proposed that energy is emitted or absorbed in discrete packets, or quanta, rather than in a continuous manner. This led to the formulation of the equation for energy as , where is the energy of a photon, is its frequency, and is Planck's constant. To derive , one can analyze the spectrum of blackbody radiation and apply the principles of thermodynamics, ultimately leading to the conclusion that is approximately , a value that is crucial for understanding quantum phenomena.
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