Why Was "h" Chosen for Planck's Constant?

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SUMMARY

The letter "h" was chosen for Planck's Constant due to its association with the German term "Hilfsgröße," meaning auxiliary quantity. Max Planck initially regarded "h" as an auxiliary constant in his work on quantum theory. This historical context highlights the significance of language in scientific nomenclature, as "h" serves as a reminder of the foundational concepts in physics.

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FordPrefect
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Planck's Constant..."h"

I am wondering if anyone knows why "h" was chosen for Planck's Constant? Or did they just randomly select a letter which didn't represent a constant at the time?
Thanks.
-Ford
 
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When Planck first published his results, he thought of h as an auxiliary quantity. In German an auxiliary quantity is called Hilfsgröße, which is - at least according to some historical reports about Planck's life - the reason, why he used h, the first letter of Hilfsgröße, to represent this constant.
 


Thank you very much Cthugha!
 


The "h" was for "helpless," because he realized that's how students would feel when they were first learning about this stuff.:smile:
 

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