Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hey guys,
Since there are no calculators on the PGRE, would you say memorization of constants like proton mass, boltzmann's constant, plank's constant, electron charge, eV to Joule conversion factor, etc. are all unneccesary to memorize? I mean, obviously you still need to know how they function and facilitate through equations, but as long as I know where I need these constants, the values themselves aren't important?

Thanks,
Ari

No, of course. Constants and other useful stuff you need on the test day are listed in your test book (see "table of information", second page of the test book).

I found a couple constants useful, most particularly, it's nice to know how to convert angstroms (wavelength of light) into electron-volts (energy of same). If I recall, the figure was about 12,400 Angstroms is equivalent to 1 eVolt. So if you're looking at light with an energy of 2eV you'd use 6,200 angstroms.