Stranger Things season 3: What is Planck’s Constant?

Stranger Things season three is full of geeky references, but maybe the nerdiest is the mention of Planck’s Constant in episode 10, streaming on Netflix now. Planck’s Constant is the code for the room with the gate in it, which Dustin (played by Gaten Matarazzo) gets from girlfriend Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo). Netflix viewers not familiar with quantum mechanics have been asking what is Planck’s Constant after it was mentioned in Stranger Things season three.

What is Planck’s Constant?

Planck’s Constant (or ℎ) is a number used in quantum mechanics, named after physicist Max Planck.

To quote from Science Alert: “The transfer of energy doesn’t behave like a flowing stream of water, but like sand, where it moves about in grains or set amounts called quanta.

“Planck worked this out through his measurements of heat radiation given off by vibrating atoms, and determining that the frequencies of the waves were all multiples of a base figure he called ℎ.

“You could have ℎ, 2ℎ, or 3ℎ, but not half of one, giving us our ‘grains’ of energy.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF STRANGER THINGS SEASON 3?

“That ℎ is now called Planck’s constant, and can be multiplied by the frequency of a wave to determine its overall energy.”

In 2019, that number is 6.62607015×10^−34 joule-second, though this is not the number used in Stranger Things season three.

Instead, the number Suzie gives Dustin is 6.62607004, short for 6.62607004×10^−34 joule-second.

However, this is an old measurement that was remeasured in 2017 using the latest technologies to get a result with a smaller margin of error.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST SERIES OF STRANGER THINGS?

In Stranger Things season three, Alexei (Alec Utgoff) reveals to Joyce (Winona Ryder) and co that the number for the room with the gate-opening laser in it was Planck’s Constant.

However, none of the characters knew it except for Suzie, the girlfriend of Dustin that the other cast members had assumed was fake.

Dustin communicated with her over Cerebro, his makeshift radio tower and had to sing Limahl’s theme to The Neverending Story to be told Planck’s Constant.

In the real world, one implication of Planck’s Constant is that it led to what a kilogram is changing in 2017.

HOW OLD ARE THE STRANGER THINGS CAST?

Previously, the kilogram was based on an actual weight known as Le Grand K.

This is an actual weight made of platinum and iridium that is kept in a vault in Paris.

However, atoms falling off this object make it inconsistent over time, so scientists decided to base the measurement on Planck’s Constant.

In Stranger Things season three, meanwhile, it has a rather more explosive impact as it helps Joyce and Hopper (David Harbour) close the gate and defeat the Mind Flayer.

Stranger Things season 3 is streaming on Netflix now

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