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At the smallest scale, light does not transfer energy continuously. Instead, the energy of electromagnetic waves arrives in discrete ‘packets’, which are called photons. The energy transferred by a single photon of light, E, is proportional to the frequency of the light, f. This is neatly summarized by Planck’s equation, E = hf, where h is a constant of proportionality known as Planck’s constant.
This experiment seeks to experimentally determine a value for h. In SI units the value of the Planck constant is defined to be 6.62607015 × 10–34 Joule-seconds (J s). You can use this quantity to determine the accuracy of your result.
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