07 Jan 13
1 edit
Originally posted by sonhouseIs this strictly speaking an exception, to the third law of thermodynamics?
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-gas-temperature-absolute.html
If so, I assume that this exception is in some sense 'trivial'? else I don't understand why we have always been taught that going below absolute zero is impossible.
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08 Jan 13
Originally posted by humyIt's a quirk of the definition of temperature.
Is this strictly speaking an exception, to the third law of thermodynamics?
If so, I assume that this exception is in some sense 'trivial'? else I don't understand why we have always been taught that going below absolute zero is impossible.
You can get negative absolute temperatures which correspond to systems with the
inverse of the standard Boltzmann distribution of particle velocities.
So technically speaking if something has a negative absolute temperature that makes it
hotter than something that is infinitely hot...
This article explains it better.
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-atoms-negative-absolute-temperature-hottest.html#nRlv
And no there is no violating the 2nd law here. move along... 😉
08 Jan 13
Originally posted by googlefudgeThat didn't explain a damn thing better.
It's a quirk of the definition of temperature.
You can get negative absolute temperatures which correspond to systems with the
inverse of the standard Boltzmann distribution of particle velocities.
So technically speaking if something has a negative absolute temperature that makes it
hotter than something that is infinitely hot...
This artic ...[text shortened]... perature-hottest.html#nRlv
And no there is no violating the 2nd law here. move along... 😉
08 Jan 13
7 edits
Originally posted by googlefudgeoh right, now I get it.
It's a quirk of the definition of temperature.
You can get negative absolute temperatures which correspond to systems with the
inverse of the standard Boltzmann distribution of particle velocities.
So technically speaking if something has a negative absolute temperature that makes it
hotter than something that is infinitely hot...
This artic ...[text shortened]... perature-hottest.html#nRlv
And no there is no violating the 2nd law here. move along... 😉
So it is NOT strictly speaking going below absolute zero and going below absolute zero is strictly impossible just as I have been always taught. That's a relief.
And no there is no violating the 2nd law here. move along... 😉
-and, also, there is no violating the 3rd law here 😏
- Joined
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09 Jan 13
Originally posted by humy
oh right, now I get it.
So it is NOT strictly speaking going below absolute zero and going below absolute zero is strictly impossible just as I have been always taught. That's a relief.
And no there is no violating the [b]2ndlaw here. move along... 😉
-and, also, there is no violating the 3rd law here 😏[/b]You got it. :-)
A negative absolute temperature corresponds to a temperature above +infinity...
And not a temperature below Abs Zero.
Although given the absurdity of having a temperature above +infinity, let alone denoting
it as a negative temperature, probably suggests that a better definition of temperature
might be in order.
It's probably best to think of negative absolute temperatures as being like imaginary numbers.
And not part of the normal number line.
