Physical constant

A physical constant, sometimes fundamental physical constant or universal constant, is a physical quantity that cannot be explained by a theory and therefore must be measured experimentally. It is distinct from a mathematical constant, which has a fixed numerical value, but does not directly involve any physical measurement.

There are many physical constants in science, some of the most widely recognized being the speed of light in vacuum c, the gravitational constant G, the Planck constant h, the electric constant ε₀, and the elementary charge e. Physical constants can take many dimensional forms: the speed of light signifies a maximum speed for any object and its dimension is length divided by time; while the proton-to-electron mass ratio, is dimensionless.

The term "fundamental physical constant" is sometimes used to refer to universal-but-dimensioned physical constants such as those mentioned above.^[1] Increasingly, however, physicists reserve the expression for the narrower case of dimensionless universal physical constants, such as the fine-structure constant α, which characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic interaction.

Physical constant, as discussed here, should not be confused with empirical constants, which are coefficients or parameters assumed to be constant in a given context without being fundamental.^[2] Examples include the characteristic time, characteristic length, or characteristic number (dimensionless) of a given system, or material constants (e.g., Madelung constant, electrical resistivity, and heat capacity) of a particular material or substance.