# Did Einstein come from Planck?



## JoanDrake (Aug 23, 2013)

I remember seeing on a tv show years ago that Einstein's energy to mass equation was directly transformed from Planck's statements on quanta and the speed of light

I've been searching the net and can't find much that's specific. (Or even general, really)


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## Vertigo (Aug 23, 2013)

I'm not sure of the details, but they did work together quite closely (a fair bit of that was Planck trying to maintain a political leash on Einstein I think) I also seem to recall that some of Planck's work was critical to Einstein's. But I think it went quite a bit beyond 'directly transforming' Planck's work.

No doubt one of our resident physicists will have a better answer!


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## Mirannan (Aug 23, 2013)

Vertigo said:


> I'm not sure of the details, but they did work together quite closely (a fair bit of that was Planck trying to maintain a political leash on Einstein I think) I also seem to recall that some of Planck's work was critical to Einstein's. But I think it went quite a bit beyond 'directly transforming' Planck's work.
> 
> No doubt one of our resident physicists will have a better answer!



Just to make it even more confusing, Einstein did some important early work in quantum mechanics as well as relativity and, for example, came up with the first decent explanation of Brownian motion. Also, he was the first person to come up with the idea of quantization of light, which explained some aspects of photoelectricity that had been puzzling.

Also confusingly enough, Planck's constant (as known these days) was first brought in as a concept by Einstein.

His Nobel Prize was awarded for his work on photoelectricity, rather than relativity.

All AFAIK.


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## Gramm838 (Aug 23, 2013)

Didn't he come from Switzerland?

LOL


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## Brian G Turner (Aug 23, 2013)

I haven't checked it up, but for some reason I was under the impression that Einstein derived E=mc2 through simplifying Maxwell's equations on electromagnetism.

I may be very confused about the issue, though.


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## paranoid marvin (Aug 23, 2013)

Theoretically, he may have been a close relative?


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## JoanDrake (Aug 24, 2013)

I said:


> I haven't checked it up, but for some reason I was under the impression that Einstein derived E=mc2 through simplifying Maxwell's equations on electromagnetism.
> 
> I may be very confused about the issue, though.


 
No, I think it's me that's confused, it must have been Maxwell's. That may have been why I haven't found the transformation yet

I'm still looking, but now under Maxwell, if anybody knows the simplification I'd still appreciate it if they could post it here.


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## Vertigo (Aug 24, 2013)

There's a page here with the mathematical derivation of e=mc2. Maxwell does get a mention as being some of the source of the inspiration.

Edit: helps if I actually put in the link: http://www.adamauton.com/warp/emc2.html


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## JoanDrake (Aug 25, 2013)

Vertigo said:


> There's a page here with the mathematical derivation of e=mc2. Maxwell does get a mention as being some of the source of the inspiration.
> 
> Edit: helps if I actually put in the link: Special Relativity: Derivation of E=mc^2


 
Thank you both so very much. Maxwell is MUCH better for my purposes


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## JoanDrake (Aug 25, 2013)

Oops, mispost, sorry


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## Velocius quam lucem (Sep 29, 2013)

Planck is the "father" of quantum theory. His work with radiation of energy led him to discover the smallest unit at which any action can take place. 

The Planck constant was first described as the proportionality constant between the energy (_E_) of a photon and the frequency (_ν_) of its associated electromagnetic wave. The energy of a particle or a system is directly proportional to its frequency. This is why Gamma Ray bursts from massive stars collapsing would be so deadly to human life. Gamma rays are the highest frequency rays on the electromagnetic spectrum. 

The relation between energy and frequency is called the *Planck relation*: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 Since the frequency _



_, wavelength _λ_, and speed of light _c_ are related by _λν_ = _c_, the Planck relation for a photon can also be expressed as





As you can see, there is a reference to the speed of light and energy in the same equation, and Dr. Planck revealed this in 1901, four years before Einstein revealed his famous E = mc2 equation. Believe it or not, the E = mc2 equation comes from a relationship in classical physics of momentum (p = mv) and kinetic energy K = 1/2 mv2.
Indeed, the full form of the equation is actually:






Where you can see he has replaced the "v", meaning velocity with "c", meaning the speed of light. He also used another piece borrowed from a man named Hendrik Lorentz. 

In no way would I want to diminish the brilliance of Einstein, but to some extent he was a giant standing on the shoulder of other giants.


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## Vertigo (Sep 29, 2013)

In the end, isn't that true of all scientists and science!


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## Dozmonic (Sep 29, 2013)

All I recall of Planck and Einstein is Feynman talking of them in very high regard, along with a great many other great phsycists of the time. Now Feynman, there is a legend who'll echo through the ages.


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