Max Planck is one of the most celebrated physicists in all of history. His contribution to the scientific community helped advance our knowledge about the atom and things on a subatomic level. Before Max Planck there were many different theories and guesses about the way atoms and electrons moved about. He finally solved the mystery of radiation and heat in regards to the atom and propelled science forever forward.

Max Planck studied the way electrons interacted in an atom when exposed to different types and levels of radiation. He discovered that only certain frequencies of radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum and certain levels were capable of making an electron “jump” from one orbital to the next. He called this small unit of energy a quanta. For instance, imagine that if you were trying to move a fridge from out of your kitchen and no matter how hard you pushed or anyone else pushed it never moved. Then a new person came in and applied a very specific amount of energy to the fridge and like butter, it slid out of the crevice and outside to the garage. Quanta are little packets of energy that contain certain amounts of energy. Planck discovered the amount of energy within each of these packets and how many were required to move an electron to and from energy levels inside of an atom.