Max Planck. Uncovering the World of Matter

20 Pages·2011·5.753 MB·English

by  Jane Weir

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Max Planck studied physics, the science of g

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matter and energy. He made big discoveries e
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in the area of thermodynamics, or the study of
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heat and how it moves. Planck won the Nobel rld

Prize for his work in quantum physics, or the o
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movement inside of atoms. His work changed M
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the way scientists tt
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understood the world.
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Physical e
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Science
Jane Weir
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Jane Weir MPhys
‚
Physical Science Readers: Table of Contents
Max Planck:
The End of Science? .........................................................4
Uncovering the World of Matter
Growing Up .....................................................................6
New Ideas ........................................................................8
Publishing Credits
Heat and Movement ......................................................10
Editorial Director Creative Director
Dona Herweck Rice Lee Aucoin
Quantum Theory ...........................................................18
Associate Editor Illustration Manager
Joshua BishopRoby Timothy J. Bradley
Editor-in-Chief Publisher Private Life ....................................................................22
Sharon Coan, M.S.Ed. Rachelle Cracchiolo, M.S.Ed.
Physicist: Frances Hellman ............................................26
Science Contributor
Appendices ....................................................................28
Sally Ride Science
Science Consultants
Lab: Separating Mixtures ................................28
Michael E. Kopecky,
Science Department Chair,
Chino Hills High School Glossary ...........................................................30
Jane Weir, MPhys
Index ................................................................31
Sally Ride Science .............................................32
Image Credits ...................................................32
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Reprinted 2011
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2 3
The End of Science?
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck
Planck’s studies opened new worlds in science for others to study.
(plahnk) was born on April 23, 1858, in
Germany. At that time, people thought
they had solved all the big problems in
science. Planck’s teachers told him that
there was no point in studying science.
They thought there wasn’t anything
much left to learn! They said he should
study math.
Planck didn’t listen to them. He
went to a university to study physics.
Physics is the science that studies
matter and energy. It explores what
everything is made of, how it moves,
and how it changes.
Planck as a young man
It’s a good thing he didn’t listen.
The twentieth century turned out to
be very busy for scientists. And a lot
of new things were learned because
of Planck!
In 1918, Max Planck won the Nobel Prize
for his discovery of quanta (page 18).
He became world famous and known
as the Father of Quantum Physics.
4 5
Growing Up
Max Planck was the sixth child born to Johann and Learning was a bright light in Planck’s Music or Science?
Emma Planck. They gave him every opportunity to study life. When he was nine years old, his family Planck studied music, too. He was
and learn. And Planck loved to learn. moved to Munich (MYOO-nik), Germany. a talented singer. He also played
the piano, organ, and cello. He
One teacher took Planck under his wing. He
Planck came from a family of very smart, hardworking wrote songs and operas. He
taught the boy math as well as mechanics
people. Some of them were professors, lawyers, and judges. thought about having a career
and astronomy. Planck first learned about
in music. But science won out.
They taught him to think for himself. They taught him to
energy from this teacher. Planck studied so He gave up his study of music to
work hard. That’s just what Planck spent his life doing.
hard that he graduated early from school. focus on science instead.
He was just 16 years old.
Planck read a great But there was a cloud over Planck’s
deal to learn from childhood. One of his earliest memories
the work of other was of war. Troops marched through his
scientists.
hometown during the German-Danish
war. War was a part of Planck’s childhood.
It would become a tragic part of his
Munich around the time adulthood, too.
Planck lived there with
his family
6 7
New Ideas
Planck studied at the University of Munich. A physics teacher From Newton to New Ideas
there told him not to study physics! The teacher said, “In this field,
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-
almost everything is already discovered .… All that remains is to fill
1727) was born and raised in
a few holes.” Planck didn’t want to discover new things. He wanted
England. He was a great scientist
to learn about what was known. So, he studied and led experiments
and mathematician. He was also
about what others had figured out.
a scholar of history. Many people
The more he learned, the more he thought about things. He
think of him as the founder of
went to Berlin to study with the famous scientists there. He began
modern physical science. He spent
to study theories of physics. Theories are explanations. They are
his life dedicated to his work.
ways of thinking about and analyzing something to understand
Newton’s work was the basis of
what you cannot see.
study for many scientists who came
Planck found he didn’t want to do
after him. He was among the most
experiments anymore. He wanted to
important scientists studied by Max
explain why things are as they are. He
Planck. Many scientists of Planck’s
took what was known and used it to
time thought Newton had figured
help understand what wasn’t known. He
everything out. They believed
proved there was a whole lot left to learn
Newton had discovered nearly
in science.
everything there was left to discover.
They were wrong. Planck and other
Planck studied matter and its
great scientists of modern times have
properties. This led him to learn
proven that there is always more to
what happens to matter in different
learn when it comes to science.
conditions. Matter and heat really
interested him. All of Planck’s studies
led him to choose heat theory as his field.
He would go on to make big discoveries
about matter and heat.
Physics Hall at the University of Munich
88 9
Heat and Movement
The study of heat and how it moves is called thermodynamics Zeroth Law
(thur-moh-dye-NAM-iks). This became Planck’s main field of There are four laws of
study. He knew that heat doesn’t just stay in one place. It moves. thermodynamics. There is a first,
second, third, and zeroth law. The
It gets passed from one thing to another. This may sound very
zeroth law was added after the
simple, but there are some big ideas behind this simple concept.
others. It was more basic than
It became Planck’s job to figure them out.
the others, so it needed to have
a number that came before one.
Matter is the “stuff” that makes up the contents of the
People thought it was obvious, but
universe. Matter is made of tiny particles called atoms. No one
still important. The zeroth law says
can see an atom. That takes a very powerful microscope. that heat only goes from hot things
But atoms are the basis of matter, no matter what. How to cooler things.
the atoms join together
is what makes something
unique. How the atoms
move has a lot to do
with heat.

Heat is all around us and in us.
It is in the sun and radiating
from it. It is in our bodies, too.
10 11
Marie Curie Heat moves in three ways. They are conduction,
convection, and radiation. Conduction happens when vibrating
Marie Curie (1867–1934) was born
atoms pass heat to each other. Convection happens when
Marie Sklodowska in Poland. During
warm material moves to a cooler area and takes heat with it.
her time, it was rare for women to study
Radiation happens when energy moves in rays or waves.
science and math. But that is just what
In Planck’s time, people knew about the first two types of
she did. And like many other women
heat movement. But they didn’t know much about the third.
scientists of her time, she married a
Planck explained what radiation is. For example, the light
scientist. In that way, she was allowed
and heat we get from the sun is made of radiation waves.
to continue her work. Women who
lived during that time usually weren’t
given the means to do the work without
a man present. Fortunately, times have
changed a great deal since then.
It’s a good thing for science that
Curie kept going! She won two Nobel
Prizes: one for physics in 1903, and the
other for chemistry in 1911. The Nobel
Prize is a top honor for a scientist
whose work changes or advances
science in a big way. Marie Curie’s
Marie Curie
work certainly did.
Seeing in the Dark
Objects give off heat radiation. This
is why infrared cameras can be
used to see things in the dark. They
see the heat. Objects that give off conduction convection radiation
the most heat show up best when
infrared sensors are used.
12 13
Entropy Heat Death of the Universe
To understand heat, Planck needed to know more than just If there is only a certain amount
how it moves. One of the most important things he studied is of energy in the universe, and nothing
called entropy (EN-truh-pee). It is an idea that was very useful can come in or out of the universe,
to Planck. It became an important part of his own ideas. and entropy increases all the time,
then there should be a point where
Entropy is the messiness or randomness in a system. In a
entropy is as high as it can get. At
system with high entropy, the atoms are very disordered. This
this point, the universe would be a
is something like a messy bedroom. If all your belongings are
complete mess. There would be no
thrown all over your room, there is high entropy there, and no
more movement. There would be
order. In other words, there is a high level of randomness.
no energy to make anything do what
In a system with low entropy, atoms are orderly. This is like it is supposed to do. This point is
a bedroom that has just been tidied. Everything is in a place that called the heat death of the universe.
makes sense. Clothes are in the closet. Books are stacked neatly Scientists don’t know if it will actually
on the shelves. Things are in order. There is low entropy. In happen. They don’t know because
other words, there is a low level of randomness. nobody knows if there is anything
outside the universe.
The Energy in Light
Light is a wave. It carries energy.
Different colors of light have
What a Mess!
different energies. Planck showed
The second law of
how to figure the energy carried
thermodynamics says that
by colors of light. He did this by
heat and energy will move
linking light waves to entropy.
around until things are as
disordered as possible.
14 15