The Origin of Quantum Mechanics (feat. Neil Turok)
Check out the Massey Lectures with Neil Turok: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2012-cbc-massey-lectures-the-universe-within-from-quantum-to-cosmos-1.2921611 Perimeter Institute for Theoretical...
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Where did quantum theory come from?It started, not as a crazy idea, but with a light bulb. In the early 1890s, the GermanBureau of Standards asked Max Planck how to make light bulbs more efficient so that theywould give out the maximum light for the least electrical power.The first task Planck faced was to predict how much light a hot filament gives off. Heknew that light consists of electromagnetic waves, with different colors of light carriedby different frequency waves. The problem was to ensure that as much light as possiblewas given off by visible waves rather than ultraviolet or infrared.He tried to work out how much light of each color a hot object emits, but his predictionsbased on electromagnetic theory kept disagreeing with experiments.Instead, in what he...
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Where did quantum theory come from?It started, not as a crazy idea, but with a light bulb. In the early 1890s, the GermanBureau of Standards asked Max Planck how to make light bulbs more efficient so that theywould give out the maximum light for the least electrical power.The first task Planck faced was to predict how much light a hot filament gives off. Heknew that light consists of electromagnetic waves, with different colors of light carriedby different frequency waves. The problem was to ensure that as much light as possiblewas given off by visible waves rather than ultraviolet or infrared.He tried to work out how much light of each color a hot object emits, but his predictionsbased on electromagnetic theory kept disagreeing with experiments.Instead, in what he...
