News tagged with absolute zero

A quantum connection between light and motion

(PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists have demonstrated a system in which light is used to control the motion of an object that is large enough to be seen with the naked eye at the level where quantum mechanics governs ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (24) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Electron's negativity cut in half by supercomputer

(PhysOrg.com) -- While physicists at the Large Hadron Collider smash together thousands of protons and other particles to see what matter is made of, they're never going to hurl electrons at each other. No ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (26) | comments 36 | with audio podcast

A microscopic view on quantum fluctuations

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics achieve direct imaging of quantum fluctuations at absolute zero temperature.

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Oct 14, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (9) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Developing more accurate cold atom accelerometers

For the first time, a team of French physicists, supported by CNES and ESA, has succeeded in developing a vibration-resistant cold atom accelerometer. Tested in parabolic flight, this prototype was able to ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 4

Scientists observe how superconducting nanowires lose resistance-free state

Even with today's invisibility cloaks, people can't walk through walls. But, when paired together, millions of electrons can.

Physics / Superconductivity

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Dark clouds in space

(PhysOrg.com) -- Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are dark patches in the sky seen against the continuous, bright infrared background produced by our galaxy. IRDCs are rich in molecules and relatively dense, cool ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 21 | with audio podcast

Physicists hit on mathematical description of superfluid dynamics

(PhysOrg.com) -- It has been 100 years since the discovery of superconductivity, a state achieved when mercury was cooled, with the help of liquid helium, to nearly the coldest temperature achievable to form ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (17) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New superconductive properties discovered in old sandwich material

(PhysOrg.com) -- Japanese researchers, led by Masashi Kawasaki, have discovered that a previously known kind of double layered material created using electrostatic doping can be used as a superconductor.

Physics / Superconductivity

created May 23, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Supersolid helium unlikely

(PhysOrg.com) -- Does helium-4 become a "supersolid" near absolute zero? What previous researchers thought might be a supersolid transition is better explained by changes in the solid's resistance to shearing, ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 17, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Shaking down frozen helium: In a 'supersolid' state, it has liquid-like characteristics

In a four-decade, Holy Grail-like quest to fully understand what it means to be in a "supersolid" state, physicists have found that supersolid isn't always super solid. In other words, this exotic state of frozen helium appears ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created May 12, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Andromeda's coat of many colors (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's fleet of space telescopes has captured the nearby Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31, in different wavelengths. Most of these wavelengths are invisible to the eye and each shows a different aspect ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 27, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Heavy metals open path to high temperature nanomagnets

How would you like to store all the films ever made on a device the size of an I-phone?

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Fleeting fluctuations in superconductivity disappear close to transition temperature

(PhysOrg.com) -- As part of an ongoing effort to uncover details of how high-temperature superconductors carry electrical current with no resistance, scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Department ...

Physics / Superconductivity

created Feb 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Hot booze turns material into a superconductor

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Japanese scientist who "likes alcohol very much" has discovered that soaking samples of material in hot party drinks for 24 hours turns them into superconductors at ambient temperature.

Physics / Superconductivity

created Jan 11, 2011 | popularity 2.2 / 5 (58) | comments 28 | with audio podcast report

New look at relativity: Electrons can't exceed the speed of light -- thanks to light itself, says biologist

When resolving why electrons can never beat the speed limit set by light, it might be best to forget about time. Thanks to insight from studying movement inside a biological cell, it seems that light itself -- not the relativity ...

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 19, 2010 | popularity 2.6 / 5 (53) | comments 161 | with audio podcast

Absolute zero

Absolute zero is a temperature marked by a 0 entropy configuration. It is the coldest temperature theoretically possible and cannot be reached by artificial or natural means. Temperature is an entropically defined quantity that effectively determines the number of thermodynamically accessible states of a system within an energy range. Absolute zero physically possesses quantum mechanical zero-point energy. Having a limited temperature has several thermodynamic consequences; for example, at absolute zero all molecular motion does not cease but does not have enough energy for transference to other systems, it is therefore correct to say that at 0 kelvin molecular energy is minimal. In addition, any particle with zero energy would violate Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which states that the location and momentum of a particle cannot be known at the same time. A particle at absolute zero would be at rest, so both its position, and momentum (0), would be known simultaneously.

By international agreement, absolute zero is defined as precisely 0 K on the Kelvin scale, which is a thermodynamic (absolute) temperature scale, and −273.15° on the Celsius scale. Absolute zero is also precisely equivalent to 0 R on the Rankine scale (same as Kelvin but measured in Fahrenheit intervals), and −459.67° on the Fahrenheit scale. Though it is not theoretically possible to cool any substance to 0 K, scientists have made great advancements in achieving temperatures close to absolute zero, where matter exhibits quantum effects such as superconductivity and superfluidity. For the kinematics of the molecules, on a larger scale, which is easier to understand see kinetic energy.

For more information about Absolute zero, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: atoms