A temperature below absolute zero!:

http://phys.org/news/2013-01-gas-temperature-absolute.html

Originally posted by sonhouse
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-gas-temperature-absolute.html

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.

Originally posted by humy
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.

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 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... 😉

Originally posted by googlefudge
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... 😉

That didn't explain a damn thing better.

Originally posted by sasquatch672
That didn't explain a damn thing better.

The article I linked explained it quite neatly.

If it doesn't make sense to you then you possibly just need to study more physics.

Originally posted by googlefudge
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... 😉

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 2nd law here. move along... 😉

-and, also, there is no violating the 3rd law here 😏

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]2nd law 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.

Originally posted by googlefudge
You got it. :-)

A negative absolute temperature corresponds to a temperature above +infinity...

Well that's just bonkers. Trust physicists to take a perfectly logical temperature scale and totally frack it up to make headlines.