Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Absolute zero is the coldest point on the thermodynamic temperature scale, a state at which the enthalpy and entropy of a cooled ideal gas reach their minimum value. The fundamental particles of nature have minimum vibrational motion, retaining only quantum mechanical, zero-point energy -induced particle motion.
This definition also precisely related the Celsius scale to the Kelvin scale, which defines the SI base unit of thermodynamic temperature with symbol K. Absolute zero, the lowest temperature possible, is defined as being exactly 0 K and −273.15 °C. Until 19 May 2019, the temperature of the triple point of water was defined as exactly 273.16 ...
However this is not the whole story, in reality energy is not so arbitrarily defined: in general relativity the seat of the curvature of spacetime is the energy content and there the absolute amount of energy has real physical meaning. There is no such thing as an arbitrary additive constant with density of field energy.
Apart from the absolute zero of temperature, the Kelvin temperature of a body in a state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium is defined by measurements of suitably chosen of its physical properties, such as have precisely known theoretical explanations in terms of the Boltzmann constant.
In 1954, with absolute zero having been experimentally determined to be about −273.15 °C per the definition of °C then in use, Resolution 3 of the 10th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) introduced a new internationally standardized Kelvin scale which defined the triple point as exactly 273.15 + 0.01 = 273.16 degrees Kelvin.
At absolute zero temperature, the system is in the state with the minimum thermal energy, the ground state. The constant value (not necessarily zero) of entropy at this point is called the residual entropy of the system. With the exception of non-crystalline solids (e.g. glass) the residual entropy of a system is typically close to zero. [2]
At absolute zero (zero kelvins) the system must be in a state with the minimum possible energy. Entropy is related to the number of accessible microstates, and there is typically one unique state (called the ground state) with minimum energy. [1] In such a case, the entropy at absolute zero will be exactly zero.
Infinite temperature (coldness zero) is shown at the top of the diagram; positive values of coldness/temperature are on the right-hand side, negative values on the left-hand side. Certain systems can achieve negative thermodynamic temperature ; that is, their temperature can be expressed as a negative quantity on the Kelvin or Rankine scales.