Re: How do I measure planck's constant?

In what he called an "act of desperation," the German physicist Max Planck 
proposed the quantum theory of light in 1900 to account for certain 
mysterious facts about the emission of light. He proposed that light was 
emitted only in tiny bundles. The light emitted by a glowing piece of iron, 
for instance, was actually "grainy," composed of minuscule light "grains" 
too small to be seen Planck called a light "grain" a quantum, from the 
Latin word meaning "how much?" 

The mysterious facts Planck was trying to explain concerned the way certain 
substances give off light. Light is the movement of energy through space in 
the form of electromagnetic waves. These electromagnetic waves, of which 
light is but one type, are caused by certain motions of tiny, negatively 
charged particles called electrons, which generally surround the dense 
core, or nucleus, of an atom. 

Planck proposed that electrons, for some unknown reason, could give off 
light only in certain specific amounts of light energy--in quanta. Only 
whole quanta can be given off, never a fraction of a quantum. The energy of 
these quanta varies directly with the frequency of the light. Energetic 
light of higher frequency, such as violet or ultraviolet light, consists of 
higher-energy quanta than does light of lower frequency, such as red or 
infrared light. 

Planck made some calculations of the relation between energy and frequency 
of a light quantum. The greater the one, the greater the other. He then 
derived a conversion factor, now known as Planck's constant that describes 
the energy of an individual quantum and is one of the fundamental constants 
of physics. 

Planck's constant is expressed in terms of energy multiplied by time--a 
unit called action--and may be given in erg-seconds or joule-seconds. An 
erg is defined as the amount of energy needed to raise a milligram (roughly 
the weight of a grain of sand) a distance of 1 centimeter (about 1/3 inch). 
This is not a great deal of energy. Planck's constant (h) is about 6.626 × 
10-27 to the power of -27 erg-second. An electromagnetic wave with a 
frequency of millions of cycles per second (a typical radio wave) has 
quanta with energies on the order of 10-21 to the power of -21 erg. A 
quantum leap is indeed extremely small. Quanta may come in different 
energies, but they must always be whole-number multiples of Planck's 
constant times the radiation frequency.

In 1905 the German-born physicist Albert Einstein used Planck's quantum 
theory to explain the photoelectric effect, in which charged particles such 
as electrons are emitted from certain materials when electromagnetic 
radiation strikes the materials. Einstein also proposed that electrons, 
besides emitting electromagnetic radiation in quanta, also absorb it in 
quanta. Einstein's work demonstrated that electromagnetic radiation has the 
characteristics of both a waves--because the fields of which it is composed 
rise and fall in strength--and a particle -because the energy is contained 
in separate "packets." These packets were later called photons.

I found an interesting site you might visit. It is courtesy of University 
of Colorado. This http vectors you into the page that discusses Planck's 
constant. If you go to "home" and start investigating, you will come across 
other neat information. The animation applets are well done. Again, each 
time the electron jumps orbits it does so by a finite amount absorbing or 
releasing energy by an exact multiple of Planck's constant.
 http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/quantumzone/frequency2.html http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/quantumzone/photoelectric2.html
Also: http://www.nova.edu/gtep/SCI/SCI661/notes_uns.html

Measuring Planck's constant can be done in laboratories provided the right 
equipment is available. There are PC hosted equipment and software to do 
what you wish. I found a site that mentions such experiment in abstract.
 http://science.usfca.edu/pti/\abstract1\macleaab.htm

I hope this helps in your project. Your MAD.SCI Micro.