4 ms·
It's worth pointing out that it's possible to get below absolute zero: http://www.mpg.de/6776082/negative_absolute_temperature http://www.mpg.de/6776082/negativ
by DrStalker 12y ago
It's worth pointing out that it's possible to get below absolute zero: http://www.mpg.de/6776082/negative_absolute_temperature http://www.mpg.de/6776082/negative_absolute_temperature
It's a bit of a definitional thing; once you get that cold measuring how fast atomes move is less useful than looking at enthalpy and entropy and the way atoms give or receive energy.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero
> It is commonly thought of as the lowest temperature possible, but it is not the lowest enthalpy state possible
- ars 12y agoThat's a terrible article you've linked to. And it's not really a negative temperature anyway, it's more of a notational thing, not an actual negative temperature.
- madaxe_again 12y agoPotato potato... Negative temperature means that entropy decreases when you add energy to a system, typically because you're approaching a local maxima for the energy state it's in. Bose Einstein Condensates are a nice example of this behaviour.... and it's as "real" a negative temperature as you can have.
- gus_massa 12y agoA negative temperature is hotter than a positive temperature. Actually, it’s easier to imagine that you can’t go “bellow” zero to reach a negative temperature. You must go “over” infinity and appear at the negative side of the numbers. (If there is a mathematician nearby and begins to cry, just say that you must change the topology and use $\bar{\R}^{*}$.)