Absolute zero corresponds to a temperature of −273.15 °C.

It is believed that absolute zero is unattainable in practice. Its existence and position on the temperature scale follows from extrapolation of the observed physical phenomena, while such extrapolation shows that at absolute zero the energy of thermal motion of molecules and atoms of a substance should be equal to zero, that is, the chaotic movement of particles stops, and they form an ordered structure, occupying a clear position at the nodes of the crystal lattice. However, in fact, even at absolute zero temperature, the regular movements of the particles that make up matter will remain. The remaining oscillations, such as zero-point oscillations, are due to the quantum properties of the particles and the physical vacuum that surrounds them.

At present, in physical laboratories it has been possible to obtain temperatures exceeding absolute zero by only a few millionths of a degree; to achieve it itself, according to the laws of thermodynamics, is impossible.

Notes

Literature

• G. Burmin. Assault on absolute zero. - M.: “Children’s Literature”, 1983.

see also

Wikimedia Foundation.

2010.

See what “Absolute Zero” is in other dictionaries: ABSOLUTE ZERO, the temperature at which all components of the system have the least amount of energy allowed by the laws of QUANTUM MECHANICS; zero on the Kelvin temperature scale, or 273.15°C (459.67° Fahrenheit). At this temperature...

Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary Temperature is the minimum temperature limit that can be physical body

. Absolute zero serves as the starting point for an absolute temperature scale, such as the Kelvin scale. On the Celsius scale, absolute zero corresponds to a temperature of −273 ... Wikipedia ABSOLUTE ZERO TEMPERATURE - the beginning of the thermodynamic temperature scale; located at 273.16 K (Kelvin) below (see) water, i.e. equal to 273.16°C (Celsius). Absolute zero is the lowest temperature in nature and practically unattainable...

Big Polytechnic Encyclopedia

Absolute zero temperature is the minimum temperature limit that a physical body can have. Absolute zero serves as the starting point for an absolute temperature scale, such as the Kelvin scale. On the Celsius scale, absolute zero corresponds to... ... Wikipedia

Razg. Neglect An insignificant, insignificant person. FSRY, 288; BTS, 24; ZS 1996, 33 ...

zero- absolute zero … Dictionary of Russian Idioms

Zero and zero noun, m., used. compare often Morphology: (no) what? zero and zero, why? zero and zero, (see) what? zero and zero, what? zero and zero, what about? about zero, zero; pl. What? zeros and zeros, (no) what? zeros and zeros, why? zeros and zeros, (I see)… … Dictionary Dmitrieva

Absolute zero (zero). Razg. Neglect An insignificant, insignificant person. FSRY, 288; BTS, 24; ZS 1996, 33 V zero. 1. Jarg. they say Joking. iron. About severe intoxication. Yuganovs, 471; Vakhitov 2003, 22. 2. Zharg. music Exactly, in full accordance with... ... Big dictionary Russian sayings

absolute- absolute absurdity, absolute authority, absolute impeccability, absolute disorder, absolute fiction, absolute immunity, absolute leader, absolute minimum, absolute monarch, absolute morality, absolute zero… … Dictionary of Russian Idioms

Books

• Absolute zero, Absolute Pavel. The life of all the creations of the mad scientist of the Nes race is very short. But the next experiment has a chance to exist. What awaits him ahead?...

When the weather report predicts temperatures near zero, you shouldn’t go to the skating rink: the ice will melt. The melting temperature of ice is taken to be zero degrees Celsius, the most common temperature scale.
We are very familiar with the negative degrees Celsius scale - degrees<ниже нуля>, degrees of cold. The lowest temperature on Earth was recorded in Antarctica: -88.3°C. Even lower temperatures are possible outside the Earth: on the surface of the Moon at lunar midnight it can reach -160°C.
But arbitrarily low temperatures cannot exist anywhere.
The extremely low temperature - absolute zero - corresponds to - 273.16° on the Celsius scale.
The absolute temperature scale, the Kelvin scale, originates from absolute zero. Ice melts at 273.16° Kelvin, and water boils at 373.16° K. Thus, degree K is equal to degree C. But on the Kelvin scale, all temperatures are positive.
Why is 0°K the cold limit? Heat is the chaotic movement of atoms and molecules of a substance. When a substance is cooled, it is taken away thermal energy<пляска>particles almost completely stops. Atoms and molecules would completely freeze at a temperature that is taken to be absolute zero.

According to the principles of quantum mechanics, at absolute zero it would be the thermal motion of particles that would cease, but the particles themselves would not freeze, since they cannot be at complete rest. Thus, at absolute zero the particles must still retain some kind of motion, which is called zero motion.<идти медленнее, чем стоять на месте>.

However, to cool a substance to a temperature below absolute zero is an idea as meaningless as, say, the intention
Moreover, even achieving exact absolute zero is almost impossible. You can only get closer to him. Because by no means can you take away absolutely all of the thermal energy from a substance. Some of the thermal energy remains at the deepest cooling.
How do you achieve ultra-low temperatures?
Freezing a substance is more difficult than heating it. This can be seen even from a comparison of the design of a stove and a refrigerator. In most household and industrial refrigerators
heat is removed due to the evaporation of a special liquid - freon, which circulates through metal tubes. The secret is that freon can remain in a liquid state only at a sufficiently low temperature. In the refrigerator compartment, due to the heat of the chamber, it heats up and boils, turning into steam. But the steam is compressed by the compressor, liquefied and enters the evaporator, replenishing the loss of evaporated freon. Energy is consumed to operate the compressor.
In deep cooling devices, the cold carrier is an ultra-cold liquid - liquid helium. Colorless, light (8 times lighter than water), it boils under atmospheric pressure at 4.2°K, and in a vacuum at 0.7°K. An even lower temperature is given by the light isotope of helium: 0.3°K.
The resulting liquid helium is stored in special thermoses - Dewar flasks.
The cost of this very cold liquid (the only one that does not freeze at absolute zero) turns out to be quite high. Nevertheless, liquid helium is used more and more widely these days, not only in science, but also in various technical devices. The lowest temperatures were achieved in a different way. It turns out that the molecules of some salts, for example potassium chromium alum, can rotate along force magnetic lines

. This salt is pre-cooled with liquid helium to 1°K and placed in a strong magnetic field. In this case, the molecules rotate along the lines of force, and the released heat is taken away by liquid helium. Then the magnetic field is abruptly removed, the molecules again turn in different directions, and the expended
This work leads to further cooling of the salt. This is how we obtained a temperature of 0.001° K. Using a similar method in principle, using other substances, we can obtain an even lower temperature.

The lowest temperature obtained so far on Earth is 0.00001° K.

Superfluidity

A substance frozen to ultra-low temperatures in baths of liquid helium changes noticeably. Rubber becomes brittle, lead becomes hard like steel and elastic, many alloys increase strength.
Liquid helium itself behaves in a peculiar way. At temperatures below 2.2° K, it acquires a property unprecedented for ordinary liquids - superfluidity: some of it completely loses viscosity and flows through the narrowest cracks without any friction.
This phenomenon was discovered in 1937 by the Soviet physicist academician P. JI. Kapitsa, was then explained by Academician JI. D. Landau. It turns out that with over
low temperatures The quantum laws of the behavior of matter begin to have a noticeable effect. As one of these laws requires, energy can be transferred from body to body only in well-defined portions - quanta. There are so few heat quanta in liquid helium that there are not enough of them for all the atoms. The part of the liquid, devoid of heat quanta, remains as if at absolute zero temperature; its atoms do not participate at all in random thermal motion and do not interact in any way with the walls of the vessel. This part (it was called helium-H) has superfluidity. As the temperature decreases, helium-P becomes more and more abundant, and at absolute zero all helium would turn into helium-H. Superfluidity has now been studied in great detail and has even found useful

practical use

Near absolute zero, extremely interesting changes occur in the electrical properties of some materials.
In 1911, the Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes made an unexpected discovery: it turned out that at a temperature of 4.12 ° K, mercury completely disappears electrical resistance. Mercury becomes a superconductor.
The electric current induced in a superconducting ring does not die out and can flow almost forever.<гроб Магомета>Above such a ring, a superconducting ball will float in the air and not fall, like a fairy tale
, because its gravity is compensated by the magnetic repulsion between the ring and the ball. After all, a continuous current in the ring will create a magnetic field, and it, in turn, will induce an electric current in the ball and with it an oppositely directed magnetic field.
In addition to mercury, tin, lead, zinc, and aluminum have superconductivity near absolute zero. This property has been found in 23 elements and more than a hundred different alloys and other chemical compounds.
The temperatures at which superconductivity appears (critical temperatures) cover a fairly wide range - from 0.35° K (hafnium) to 18° K (niobium-tin alloy).
The phenomenon of superconductivity, like super-
fluidity has been studied in detail. The dependences of critical temperatures on the internal structure of materials and the external magnetic field were found.

A deep theory of superconductivity was developed (an important contribution was made by the Soviet scientist Academician N. N. Bogolyubov). The essence of this paradoxical phenomenon is again purely quantum. At ultralow temperatures, electrons in superconductor form a system of pairwise bound particles that cannot release energy<танцуя>crystal lattice<прутьями решетки>, spend quanta of energy to heat it. Pairs of electrons move as if
, between
- ions and bypass them without collisions and energy transfer.
Superconductivity is increasingly used in technology.<шумы>equipment. In electronic computing technology, a brilliant future is promised for low-power superconducting switches - cryotrons (see Art.<Пути электроники>).
It is not difficult to imagine how tempting it would be to advance the operation of such devices into the region of higher, more accessible temperatures. IN Lately the hope of creating polymer film superconductors opens up. The peculiar nature of electrical conductivity in such materials promises a brilliant opportunity to maintain superconductivity even at room temperatures. Scientists are persistently looking for ways to realize this hope.

In the depths of the stars

And now let's look into the realm of the hottest thing in the world - into the depths of the stars. Where temperatures reach millions of degrees.
The random thermal motion in stars is so intense that entire atoms cannot exist there: they are destroyed in countless collisions.
A substance that is so hot can therefore be neither solid, nor liquid, nor gaseous. It is in the state of plasma, i.e. a mixture of electrically charged<осколков>atoms - atomic nuclei and electrons.
Plasma is a unique state of matter. Since its particles are electrically charged, they are sensitive to electrical and magnetic forces. Therefore, the close proximity of two atomic nuclei (they carry a positive charge) is a rare phenomenon. Only at high densities and enormous temperatures are atomic nuclei colliding with each other able to come close together. Then thermonuclear reactions take place - the source of energy for stars.
The closest star to us, the Sun, consists mainly of hydrogen plasma, which is heated in the bowels of the star to 10 million degrees. Under such conditions, close encounters of fast hydrogen nuclei - protons, although rare, do occur. Sometimes protons that come close interact: having overcome electrical repulsion, they fall into the power of gigantic nuclear forces of attraction, rapidly<падают>on top of each other and merge. Here an instantaneous restructuring occurs: instead of two protons, a deuteron (the nucleus of a heavy hydrogen isotope), a positron and a neutrino appear. The energy released is 0.46 million electron volts (MeV).
Each individual solar proton can enter into such a reaction on average once every 14 billion years. But there are so many protons in the bowels of the light that here and there this unlikely event occurs - and our star burns with its even, dazzling flame.
The synthesis of deuterons is only the first step of solar thermonuclear transformations. The newborn deuteron very soon (on average after 5.7 seconds) combines with another proton. A light helium nucleus and a gamma ray appear electromagnetic radiation
. 5.48 MeV of energy is released.
Finally, on average once every million years, two light helium nuclei can converge and combine. Then a nucleus of ordinary helium (alpha particle) is formed and two protons are split off. 12.85 MeV of energy is released.<конвейер>This three-stage<сгорает>thermonuclear reactions are not the only one.<золу>There is another chain of nuclear transformations, faster ones. The atomic nuclei of carbon and nitrogen participate in it (without being consumed). But in both options, alpha particles are synthesized from hydrogen nuclei. Figuratively speaking, the hydrogen plasma of the Sun
, turning into<худеет>- helium plasma. And during the synthesis of each gram of helium plasma, 175 thousand kWh of energy is released. Great amount!<горючего>Every second the Sun emits 4,1033 ergs of energy, losing 4,1012 g (4 million tons) of matter in weight. But the total mass of the Sun is 2,1027 tons. This means that in a million years, thanks to radiation, the Sun
only one ten-millionth of its mass. These figures eloquently illustrate the effectiveness of thermonuclear reactions and the gigantic calorific value of solar energy.<зола>- hydrogen.<горючим>Thermonuclear fusion is apparently the main source of energy for all stars.
At different temperatures and densities of stellar interiors, different types of reactions occur. In particular, solar<Вселенная вчера, сегодня и завтра>).

-helium nuclei - at 100 million degrees it itself becomes thermonuclear

. Then even heavier atomic nuclei - carbon and even oxygen - can be synthesized from alpha particles.<горючего>According to many scientists, our entire Metagalaxy as a whole is also the fruit of thermonuclear fusion, which took place at a temperature of a billion degrees (see Art.
<Горючего>Towards the artificial sun
Extraordinary calorific value of thermonuclear
prompted scientists to achieve artificial implementation of nuclear fusion reactions.<горючее>- There are many hydrogen isotopes on our planet. For example, the superheavy hydrogen tritium can be produced from the metal lithium in nuclear reactors. And heavy hydrogen - deuterium is part of heavy water, which can be extracted from ordinary water.
This problem was first solved in the hydrogen bomb. Hydrogen isotopes there are ignited by explosion atomic bomb, which is accompanied by heating of the substance to many tens of millions of degrees. In one version of the hydrogen bomb, the thermonuclear fuel is chemical compound heavy hydrogen with light lithium - light lithium deuteride. This white powder, similar to table salt,<воспламеняясь>from<спички>, which is an atomic bomb, instantly explodes and creates a temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees.
To initiate a peaceful thermonuclear reaction, one must first learn how to heat small doses of a sufficiently dense plasma of hydrogen isotopes to temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees without the services of an atomic bomb. This problem is one of the most difficult in modern applied physics. Scientists around the world have been working on it for many years.
We have already said that it is the chaotic movement of particles that creates the heating of bodies, and the average energy of their random movement corresponds to the temperature. To heat a cold body means to create this disorder in any way.
Imagine two groups of runners rushing towards each other. So they collided, got mixed up, a crush and confusion began.
Great mess! In much the same way, physicists initially tried to obtain high temperatures - by colliding gas jets high pressure
. The gas heated up to 10 thousand degrees. At one time this was a record: the temperature was higher than on the surface of the Sun.
But with this method, further, rather slow, non-explosive heating of the gas is impossible, since the thermal disorder instantly spreads in all directions, warming the walls of the experimental chamber and the environment. The resulting heat quickly leaves the system, and it is impossible to isolate it.
True, plasma cannot be protected from heat loss by vessels made of even the most refractory substance. In contact with solid walls, hot plasma immediately cools down. But you can try to hold and heat the plasma by creating its accumulation in a vacuum so that it does not touch the walls of the chamber, but hangs in emptiness, not touching anything. Here we should take advantage of the fact that plasma particles are not neutral, like gas atoms, but electrically charged. Therefore, when moving, they are exposed to magnetic forces. The task arises: to create a magnetic field of a special configuration in which hot plasma would hang as if in a bag with invisible walls.
The simplest form This type of energy is created automatically when strong pulses are passed through the plasma electric current. At the same time, the plasma cord is oriented around magnetic forces, which tend to compress the cord.
The plasma is separated from the walls of the discharge tube, and at the axis of the cord in the crush of particles the temperature rises to 2 million degrees.
In our country, such experiments were performed back in 1950 under the leadership of academicians JI. A. Artsimovich and M. A. Leontovich. Another direction of experiments is the use of a magnetic bottle, proposed in 1952 by the Soviet physicist G.I. Budker, now an academician. The magnetic bottle is placed in a cylindrical cork bottle vacuum chamber
, equipped with an outer winding, which thickens at the ends of the chamber. The current flowing through the winding creates a magnetic field in the chamber. Its field lines in the middle part are located parallel to the generatrices of the cylinder, and at the ends they are compressed and form magnetic plugs. Plasma particles injected into a magnetic bottle curl around the field lines and are reflected from the plugs. As a result, the plasma is retained inside the bottle for some time. If the energy of the plasma particles introduced into the bottle is high enough and there are enough of them, they enter into complex force interactions, their initially ordered movement becomes confused, becomes disordered - the temperature of the hydrogen nuclei rises to tens of millions of degrees.<ударами>Additional heating is achieved by electromagnetic by plasma, compression of the magnetic field, etc. Now the plasma of heavy hydrogen nuclei is heated to hundreds of millions of degrees. True, this can be done either by a short time
To initiate a self-sustaining reaction, the temperature and density of the plasma must be further increased. This is difficult to achieve. However, the problem, as scientists are convinced, is undoubtedly solvable.

G.B. Anfilov

Posting photographs and citing articles from our website on other resources is permitted provided that a link to the source and photographs is provided.

Absolute zero temperature

The limiting temperature at which the volume of an ideal gas becomes equal to zero is taken as absolute zero temperature.

Let's find the value of absolute zero on the Celsius scale.
Equating volume V in formula (3.1) zero and taking into account that

.

Hence the absolute zero temperature is

t= –273 °C. 2

This is the extreme, lowest temperature in nature, that “greatest or last degree of cold”, the existence of which Lomonosov predicted.

The highest temperatures on Earth - hundreds of millions of degrees - were obtained during explosions thermonuclear bombs. Even higher temperatures are typical for internal regions some stars.

2More exact value absolute zero: –273.15 °C.

Kelvin scale

The English scientist W. Kelvin introduced absolute scale temperatures Zero temperature on the Kelvin scale corresponds to absolute zero, and the unit of temperature on this scale is equal to a degree on the Celsius scale, so absolute temperature T is related to temperature on the Celsius scale by the formula

T = t + 273. (3.2)

In Fig. 3.2 shows the absolute scale and the Celsius scale for comparison.

The SI unit of absolute temperature is called Kelvin(abbreviated as K). Therefore, one degree on the Celsius scale is equal to one degree on the Kelvin scale:

Thus, absolute temperature, according to the definition given by formula (3.2), is a derived quantity that depends on the Celsius temperature and on the experimentally determined value of a.

Reader: What physical meaning does absolute temperature have?

Let us write expression (3.1) in the form

.

Considering that temperature on the Kelvin scale is related to temperature on the Celsius scale by the relation T = t + 273, we get

Where T 0 = 273 K, or

Since this relation is valid for arbitrary temperature T, then Gay-Lussac’s law can be formulated as follows:

For a given mass of gas at p = const, the following relation holds:

Task 3.1. At a temperature T 1 = 300 K gas volume V 1 = 5.0 l. Determine the volume of gas at the same pressure and temperature T= 400 K.

STOP! Decide for yourself: A1, B6, C2.

Problem 3.2. During isobaric heating, the volume of air increased by 1%. By what percentage did the absolute temperature increase?

= 0,01.

Answer: 1 %.

Let's remember the resulting formula

STOP! Decide for yourself: A2, A3, B1, B5.

Charles's Law

The French scientist Charles experimentally established that if a gas is heated so that its volume remains constant, the pressure of the gas will increase. The dependence of pressure on temperature has the form:

R(t) = p 0 (1 + b t), (3.6)

Where R(t) – pressure at temperature t°C; R 0 – pressure at 0 °C; b is the temperature coefficient of pressure, which is the same for all gases: 1/K.

Reader: Surprisingly, the temperature coefficient of pressure b is exactly equal to the temperature coefficient of volumetric expansion a!

Let us take a certain mass of gas with a volume V 0 at temperature T 0 and pressure R 0 . For the first time, maintaining the gas pressure constant, we heat it to a temperature T 1 . Then the gas will have a volume V 1 = V 0 (1 + a t) and pressure R 0 .

The second time, maintaining the volume of gas constant, we heat it to the same temperature T 1 . Then the gas will have pressure R 1 = R 0 (1 + b t) and volume V 0 .

Since in both cases the gas temperature is the same, the Boyle–Mariotte law is valid:

p 0 V 1 = p 1 V 0 Þ R 0 V 0 (1 + a t) = R 0 (1 + b t)V 0 Þ

Þ 1 + a t = 1 + b tÞ a = b.

So it's not surprising that a = b, no!

Let us rewrite Charles' law in the form

.

Considering that T = t°С + 273 °С, T 0 = 273 °C, we get

Absolute zero temperature

Absolute zero temperature(less often - absolute zero temperature) - the minimum temperature limit that a physical body in the Universe can have. Absolute zero serves as the origin of an absolute temperature scale, such as the Kelvin scale. In 1954, the X General Conference on Weights and Measures established a thermodynamic temperature scale with one reference point - the triple point of water, the temperature of which was taken to be 273.16 K (exact), which corresponds to 0.01 °C, so that on the Celsius scale the temperature corresponds to absolute zero −273.15 °C.

Phenomena observed near absolute zero

At temperatures close to absolute zero, purely quantum effects can be observed at the macroscopic level, such as:

Notes

Literature

• G. Burmin. Assault on absolute zero. - M.: “Children’s Literature”, 1983

see also

Wikimedia Foundation.

• Goering
• Kshapanaka

See what “Absolute zero temperature” is in other dictionaries:

ABSOLUTE ZERO TEMPERATURE- thermodynamic reference point. temp; located 273.16 K below the triple point temperature (0.01 ° C) of water (273.15 ° C below zero temperature on the Celsius scale, (see TEMPERATURE SCALES). The existence of a thermodynamic temperature scale and A. n. T.… … Physical encyclopedia

absolute zero temperature- the beginning of the absolute temperature reading on the thermodynamic temperature scale. Absolute zero is located 273.16ºC below the triple point temperature of water, which is assumed to be 0.01ºC. Absolute zero temperature is fundamentally unattainable... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

absolute zero temperature- absoliutusis nulis statusas T sritis Energetika apibrėžtis Termodinaminės temperatūros atskaitos pradžia, esanti 273.16 K žemiau trigubojo vandens taško. Pagal trečiąjį termodinamikos dėsnį, absoliutusis nulis nepasiekiamas. atitikmenys: engl.… … Aiškinamasis šiluminės ir branduolinės technikos terminų žodynas

Absolute zero temperature- the initial reading on the Kelvin scale is a negative temperature of 273.16 degrees on the Celsius scale... The beginnings of modern natural science

ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature, the beginning of the temperature reading on the thermodynamic temperature scale. Absolute zero is located 273.16°C below the triple point temperature of water (0.01°C). Absolute zero is fundamentally unattainable, temperatures have almost been reached... ... Modern encyclopedia

ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature is the starting point of temperature on the thermodynamic temperature scale. Absolute zero is located at 273.16.C below the temperature of the triple point of water, for which the value is 0.01.C. Absolute zero is fundamentally unattainable (see... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature, expressing the absence of heat, is equal to 218 ° C. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907. absolute zero temperature (physical) - the lowest possible temperature (273.15°C). Big dictionary... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

ABSOLUTE ZERO- temperature, the beginning of temperature on the thermodynamic temperature scale (see THERMODYNAMIC TEMPERATURE SCALE). Absolute zero is located 273.16 °C below the temperature of the triple point (see TRIPLE POINT) of water, for which it is accepted ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

ABSOLUTE ZERO- extremely low temperature at which the thermal movement of molecules stops. The pressure and volume of an ideal gas, according to Boyle-Mariotte’s law, becomes equal to zero, and the beginning of the absolute temperature on the Kelvin scale is taken to be... ... Ecological dictionary

ABSOLUTE ZERO- the beginning of the absolute temperature count. Corresponds to 273.16° C. Currently, in physical laboratories it has been possible to obtain a temperature exceeding absolute zero by only a few millionths of a degree, and to achieve it, according to the laws... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

What is absolute zero (usually zero)? Does this temperature really exist anywhere in the universe? Can we cool anything to absolute zero at real life? If you're wondering if it's possible to beat the cold wave, let's explore the furthest reaches of cold temperatures...

What is absolute zero (usually zero)? Does this temperature really exist anywhere in the universe? Can we cool anything to absolute zero in real life? If you're wondering if it's possible to beat the cold wave, let's explore the furthest reaches of cold temperatures...

Even if you're not a physicist, you're probably familiar with the concept of temperature. Temperature is a measure of the amount of internal random energy of a material. The word "internal" is very important. Throw a snowball, and although the main movement will be quite fast, the snowball will remain quite cold. On the other hand, if you look at air molecules flying around a room, an ordinary oxygen molecule is frying at thousands of kilometers per hour.

We tend to stay quiet when it comes to technical details, so just for the experts, let's note that temperature is a little more complicated than we said. The true definition of temperature involves how much energy you need to expend for each unit of entropy (disorder, if you want a clearer word). But let's skip the subtleties and just focus on the fact that random air or water molecules in the ice will move or vibrate slower and slower as the temperature drops.

Absolute zero is a temperature of -273.15 degrees Celsius, -459.67 Fahrenheit and simply 0 Kelvin. This is the point where thermal movement stops completely.

Does everything stop?

In the classical consideration of the issue, everything stops at absolute zero, but it is at this moment that the terrible face of quantum mechanics peeks out from around the corner. One of the predictions of quantum mechanics that has spoiled the blood of more than a few physicists is that you can never measure the exact position or momentum of a particle with perfect certainty. This is known as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

If you could cool a sealed room to absolute zero, strange things would happen (more on that later). The air pressure would drop to almost zero, and since air pressure usually opposes gravity, the air would collapse into a very thin layer on the floor.

But even so, if you can measure individual molecules, you'll find something interesting: they vibrate and spin, just a little bit of quantum uncertainty at work. To dot the i's: if you measure the rotation of molecules carbon dioxide At absolute zero, you will find that oxygen atoms are flying around carbon at several kilometers per hour - much faster than you thought.

The conversation reaches a dead end. When we talk about the quantum world, movement loses its meaning. At these scales, everything is defined by uncertainty, so it's not that the particles are stationary, it's just that you can never measure them as if they were stationary.

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Everything is true, but lasers have one feature - one might even say, the ultimate: all light is emitted at one frequency. Ordinary neutral atoms do not interact with light at all unless the frequency is precisely tuned. If an atom flies towards a light source, the light receives a Doppler shift and reaches a higher frequency. The atom absorbs less photon energy than it could. So if you tune the laser lower, fast-moving atoms will absorb light, and by emitting a photon in a random direction, they will lose a little energy on average. If you repeat the process, you can cool the gas to a temperature of less than one nanoKelvin, a billionth of a degree.

Everything takes on a more extreme tone. The world record for lowest temperature is less than one-tenth of a billion degrees above absolute zero. Devices that achieve this trap atoms in magnetic fields. “Temperature” depends not so much on the atoms themselves, but on the spin of atomic nuclei.

Now, to restore justice, we need to get a little creative. When we usually imagine something frozen to one billionth of a degree, you probably get a picture of even air molecules freezing in place. One can even imagine a destructive apocalyptic device that freezes the backs of atoms.

Ultimately, if you really want to experience low temperatures, all you have to do is wait. After about 17 billion years, the background radiation in the Universe will cool down to 1K. In 95 billion years the temperature will be approximately 0.01K. In 400 billion years, deep space will be as cold as the coldest experiment on Earth, and even colder after that.

If you're wondering why the universe is cooling so quickly, thank our old friends: entropy and dark energy. The universe is in acceleration mode, entering a period of exponential growth that will continue forever. Things will freeze very quickly.

What do we care?

All this, of course, is wonderful, and breaking records is also nice. But what's the point? Well, there are plenty of good reasons to understand low temperatures, and not just as a winner.

The good folks at NIST, for example, would just like to do cool watch. Time standards are based on things like the frequency of the cesium atom. If the cesium atom moves too much, it creates uncertainty in the measurements, which will eventually cause the clock to malfunction.

But more importantly, especially from a scientific perspective, materials behave crazy at extremely low temperatures. For example, just as a laser is made of photons that are synchronized with each other - at the same frequency and phase - so a material known as a Bose-Einstein condensate can be created. In it, all atoms are in the same state. Or imagine an amalgam in which each atom loses its individuality and the entire mass reacts as one null-super-atom.

At very low temperatures, many materials become superfluids, meaning they can have no viscosity at all, stack in ultra-thin layers, and even defy gravity to achieve a minimum of energy. Also, at low temperatures, many materials become superconducting, meaning there is no electrical resistance.

Superconductors are able to respond to external magnetic fields in such a way as to completely cancel them inside the metal. As a result, you can combine cold temperature and a magnet and get something like levitation.

Why is there absolute zero, but not absolute maximum?

Let's look at the other extreme. If temperature is simply a measure of energy, then we can simply imagine atoms getting closer and closer to the speed of light. This can't go on forever, can it?

The short answer is: we don't know. It's entirely possible that there is literally such a thing as infinite temperature, but if there is an absolute limit, the young universe provides plenty interesting tips as to what it is. The most heat ever existed (at least in our universe), probably happened in the so-called “Planck time”.

It was a moment 10^-43 seconds after the Big Bang when gravity separated from quantum mechanics and physics became exactly what it is now. The temperature at that time was approximately 10^32 K. This is a septillion times hotter than the inside of our Sun.

Again, we're not at all sure if this is the hottest temperature it could be. Since we don't even have big model universe at Planck's time, we are not even sure that the Universe was boiling to such a state. In any case, we are many times closer to absolute zero than to absolute heat.