Today when I got to work (at 0600 - yes I know it is Sunday), one of my colleagues asked me what the temperature was on my drive in to work. I exclaimed it was +2C. As the temperature yesterday was +1C when I arrived, he mentioned that today was twice as warm as yesterday. Initially I thought this made sense, 2 being twice as big a number as 1, however as the morning went on I realized that this didn't make any sense. I started thinking about a range of temperatures and remembered from University physics that the lowest possible temperature was "Absolute Zero" which is -273.15C or -459.67F or "0" on the Kelvin scale. Upon further research I found that this is the lowest "theoretically attainable" temperature at which the kinetic energy of atoms and molecules is minimal. WAIT A MINUTE: THEORETICALLY ATTAINABLE??? Now I find out this temperature cannot be reached by natural or artificial means because it is impossible to decouple a system fully from the rest of the universe!!!
So what this means is that this is just a concept to try and prove a hypothesis thereby developing a theory which many have taken as fact for these many years.
I began thinking "if this is the lowest possible (albeit theoretically attainable, but not really) temperature, then what is the highest temperature attainable??" Previously unknown by me. there is an "Absolute Hot" which is the highest attainable temperature by any form of matter. WHO KNEW?? And dear reader, because you are just dying to know, current cosmological models posit this highest temperature as 1.416785 (71) x 10 to the 32nd power degrees K. This is the temperature at which conventional physics breaks down. I know you are reaching for a pencil to do the math, so to save you the trouble, it works out to 100 million, million, million, million, million degrees. Above that temperature (so scientists would have us believe), particle energies become so large that the gravitational forces between them become as strong as any other forces and gravity, electromagnetism, and strong and weak nuclear forces become a single unified force. Knowing how that happens, the so-called "theory of everything" is one of the greatest goals of theoretical physics today.
To me trying to understand this is: LIKE TRYING TO TRAVEL SOUTH FROM THE SOUTH POLE!!!.
However dear reader, I have illustrated this concept in a perfectly understandable and simple was in the image above, which I title "The Theory of Everything"
Live well and prosper
Dennis
Oh my, I am absolutly confused! I know I did not study well in physics. Absolute Zero, Kelvin scale, atoms and molecules, particle energies, nuclear forces,..., my head is full of jam now, ha.
ReplyDeleteBut I have my own definition of " Absolute Hot". It means definitely and completely having or displaying great enthusiasm for someone or something. For example, you are hot for photography, while I am hot for painting, both absolutly hot!