Short Stuff

Post Reply
User avatar
Wade Hampton III
Posts: 2339
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 10:40 pm
Location: Pontiac, SC

Short Stuff

Post by Wade Hampton III » Tue Sep 04, 2018 12:01 am

From the Web...

What's the tiniest length of time you can think of? Maybe milliseconds come to mind.
Try again, but this time think like a physicist. Physics uses units of Planck measurements,
which are extremely tiny. The Planck time is the smallest conceivable length of time. Its
definition might make your head spin: One unit of Planck time equals the time it takes
light to travel a distance of one Planck length in a vacuum. Keep in mind the Planck
length is the smallest conceivable length. German physicist Max Planck, the founder of
quantum theory, proposed Planck units in 1899. They were invented, as reported by Universe
Today, as a "means of simplifying the particular algebraic expressions appearing in
theoretical physics, especially in quantum mechanics." Getting back to Planck time
specifically, here's an easier way to imagine just how small it really is: There are
more units of Planck time in one second than all the seconds since the Big Bang.
57213
57213.JPG
57213.JPG (66.97 KiB) Viewed 1299 times
The Planck length is the smallest length at which space-time functions. The Planck
length is the theoretical length at which the laws of space-time begin to unravel.
It's orders of magnitude smaller than a proton, and unable to be physically measured
by any equipment available today. It's defined by three constants: the gravitational
constant, the speed of light in a vacuum, and Planck's constant, a value used in
quantum mechanics.

The Planck length is approximately 1.6 x 10^-35 meters.

The Planck length is calculated using three constants: Planck's constant, the gravitational
constant, and the speed of light.

Space itself is not properly defined on length scales smaller than the Planck length.

Post Reply