Absolute 0

Is absolute 0F - -459F? If so, is it at all possible to get there with anything? That worlds smallest refrigerator got to -459, but absolute 0 I think would have to be a few decimal places more.

Stupid topic but I'd like to know.

Nope your right ,459 F is absolute zero. A quick google would have told you that to be honest. Heres some info anyways

www.pa.msu.edu...

Merkz out..

[edit on 30-5-2005 by Merkeva]

Originally posted by Ken_Allen
Is absolute 0F - -459F? If so, is it at all possible to get there with anything? That worlds smallest refrigerator got to -459, but absolute 0 I think would have to be a few decimal places more.

Stupid topic but I'd like to know.

I am no expert but as I recall people who chill things close to -459F begine to meashure the temp by how much the substance still moves. If there is new info out there feel free to fill me and who ever else if curious in.

Absolute zero has never been reached (yet) but I have read of experiments in which scientists managed to get something like one millionth of a degree away from absolute zero. Most things I have read also say that scientists think it is impossible to actually reach absolute zero.

If you want something to really twist your mind, go the other way. What would be the maximum temperature you can reach? I read an article on this, the author said that the hottest events to occur are supernovas, but can you get hotter than that? (no idea)

you see our species are living at the very coldest end of the heat spectrum.

Tiny refrigerators have been made that reach temperatures as low as 0.1 kelvin.

www.newscientist.com...

Thats close, but simply not close enough to absolute zero. (Absolute Zero is 0k)

The refrigerators can get a substance pretty low, and then a process known as "laser cooling" is used to get to the millionths of a degree above 0 K. From what I've read, in laser cooling (which demands great precision) an atom will absorb a photon, and then give off a photon of greater energy. The net result is a loss of energy, and the process is continued until the atoms of a substance lose their independence--so to speak.

The atoms have so little energy at that point that they coalesce into one blob of nuclei, known as the Bose-Einstein Condensate. The condensate is said to be a completely unique state of matter (i.e. liquid, solid).

If you research it in detail, the method is logical but fairly complex.

isnt space absolute zero? if not what temperature is "outer space"

In every direction, there is a very low energy and very uniform radiation that we see filling the Universe. This is called the 3 Degree Kelvin Background Radiation, or the Cosmic Background Radiation, or the Microwave Background.

Cosmic Background Radiation

Even empty space is above absolute zero. The prevailing theory is that the entire universe is filled with residual energy from the big bang.

Originally posted by Echotebarknwhale
isnt space absolute zero? if not what temperature is "outer space"

Ask and thee shall recieve

All I wanted to ask you is that if we put a thermometer in Space with no other light or heat source around and absolutely no background radiation there, what would it read? Would the temperature be really cold or what?

The Answer
Yes, it would be really cold. Temperature measures the energy per "degree of freedom" (i.e. way something can move) of whatever molecules happen to be around. So, it it becomes so cold that the molecules stop all together, then this is the "absolute zero" temperature. On the Celsius Temperature Scale (i.e. water freezes at 0, and boils at 100) this takes place at -273 degrees C.

We usually use the Kelvin temperature scale, where Zero Kelvin is this "absolute zero" temperature -- or -273 degrees C. Water freezes at +273 Kelvin and water boils at +373 Kelvin.

If we put a thermometer in darkest space, with absolutely nothing around, it would first have to cool off. This might take a very very long time. Once it cooled off, it would read 2.7 Kelvin. This is because of the "3 degree microwave background radiation." No matter where you go, you cannot escape it -- it is always there.

Jonathan Keohane

How was -459F or 0K determined to be absolute zero? How were scientists able to determine that you could never get anything below this temperature?

Originally posted by UnMature
How was -459F or 0K determined to be absolute zero? How were scientists able to determine that you could never get anything below this temperature?

Ask and thee shall recieve!

Actually, I don't think it is the Third Law of Thermodynamics that
prohibits getting to absolute zero. The Third Law establishes the entropy
datum for pure, crystalline substances.
Rather, it is a corollary to the Second Law:
"It is impossible (in the absence of a perfect heat insulator) for a
finite system to attain zero temperature on the absolute scale."
"To prove this it should be noted that any flow of heat from the
environment to a system at absolute zero could be pumped out of the system
only at the expense of an amount of work which is infinityely great
compared with the heat. In the absence of a perfect insulator, the heat
would be finite (and) the work required would, therefore, be infinite."
So, you should be able to get pretty close (and, in fact, they do
in physics labs that specialize in cryogenics and low-temp physics), but
you can't actually get all the way there. It seems to be one of those
limit imposed by nature like the speed of light.
The foundations of these ideas actually goes back to Kelvin and
Carnot.
The reference I used is an old, but classic text by J.H. Keenan
called simply "Thermodynamics" (1941). I use it alot for such questions.
I hope this helps.

www.answers.com...

Man, google is so fun!

[edit on 5/30/2005 by QuietSoul]

You have voted QuietSoul for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have used all of your votes for this month.

That's some of the most humane and polite "google hinting" I have ever seen.

Good info!

Zip

Originally posted by Zaknafein
The atoms have so little energy at that point that they coalesce into one blob of nuclei, known as the Bose-Einstein Condensate. The condensate is said to be a completely unique state of matter (i.e. liquid, solid).

I always read about what 6 states of matter, although I never really took the time to learn what the properties of each one were. All I knew was that the last 3 were extremely rare. Thanks for clearing up Bose-Einstein Condensate's for me. Now I just have to learn about Plasma's and something else.