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Coldest Place in the Universe
Chris Gondek writes "The Sydney Morning Herald has an article on how NASA has released a high-quality image of the coldest place found in the universe. Five thousand light years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, the nebula, a gas cloud formed from a dying star, has a temperature of minus 272 degrees.
It is only one degree warmer than absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature, when atoms cease to vibrate and radiate no heat whatsoever.
This radiation is the remnant of the Big Bang, the explosion which forged the universe in trillion-degree temperatures. More than 11 billion years later, this heat has cooled to minus 270 degrees, but is still detectable."
Almost as cold as Hillary Rosen's heart 8^)
I could cool my Jolt with that one :)
See my blog for my free opinions.
You mean it's *not* my ex-girlfriend's soul?
My bosses office at pay review time...
"I kill you! You no good 56'ing!"
Coldest place ever.
Someone hates these cans.
As it turns out, absolute zero is not the "coldest possible temperature". It is impossible to attain absolute zero, as a little basic quantum mechanics tells us. Particles will ALWAYS retain some amount of energy, the "Zero Point Energy", which cannot be removed. More accurately, we can say that absolute zero is the lower bound on the range of possible temperatures - but is not included.
Most frigid place in the universe? They've already shown Janeway's quarters.
Ba-dum-ch-OW! That hurt!
Doesn't look like a boomerang. Looks like a bowtie, though if you squint a bit you can get a bat or a butterfly.
Seems like the perfect place to store beer though.
Jokes about solar gas expultion aside...
A very beautiful image.
Interesting about how far back they date it at.
Now if we can just get those Ausies up to date...
"It's the Law of the Universe, and I'm the sheriff." Slash-cott 2/10-2/17
i want my system to be placed there, so i can get rid of that vapochill.
;)
although the kvm-relay will be quite laggy...
the computer is online
i am not at it
what a waste of ressources
"This radiation is the remnant of the Big Bang..."
Isn't that just a theory? Does this finding prove the theory in some way?
> Entropy and evolution can never co-exist.
Sure they can. Entropy only applies in a closed system. The earth is continually receiving energy from the sun, hence the earth is not a closed system.
Besides, who's to say God and evolution cannot coexist? What if that's the method He used?
if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
Congrats! Just don't go on a month-long binge that ends in an arrest, like I did ;)
her tit?
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
temperature is defined by the movement of atoms, right? how can microwave radiation have temperature?
if i got my physics right, radiation just induces movement of atoms... ?-)
the computer is online
i am not at it
what a waste of ressources
As the article admits at the end, it's only the coldest natural place in the universe. Scientists have produced lower temperatures in the lab, less than a few 100 billionths above absolute zero. Last time I checked, which appears to be later than the journalist who wrote the article, the coldest place in the universe was actually Brighton, England.
Do they have any travelling info? I have an ex-girlfriend that would feel right at home over there.
"If God created us in his own image we have more than reciprocated." - Voltaire
I could have sworn it was my student flat while studying in Edinburgh.
"Creationists always try to use the second law,
to disprove evolution, but their theory has a flaw.
The second law is quite precise about where it applies,
only in a closed system must the entropy count rise.
The earth's not a closed system' it's powered by the sun,
so fuck the damn creationists, Doomsday get my gun!"
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Ahh posting to slashdot on his 21st birthday and getting FP. A true geek. I salute you.
Why not fork?
Is this another one of those sales tricks for Ice Tea?
"Out liquid come from here!" *points randomly up against the skies*
Note to self: get smarter troll to guard door.
What is driving the movement of the gas?
I may just be stupid, but this article seems to raise a lot more questions than it answers. Can someone expand this beyond newspaper-level pop science?
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
...according to the recently discovered facts http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_mm.html the age of the universe is with about 1% margin of error 13.7 billion years. And the coldnes your're talking about is not that suprising since the average temperature of the universe is 2.73 degrees abode the absolute zero.
I'm sure he would have prefered a BJ, but hey - you take what you can get.
Still not as cold as my ex girlfriend.
Sometimes its fun to go sacred cow tipping.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
Nope, it's more! It's really 1.15 degrees warmer than absolute zero (which is -273.15 degrees Celsius.)
Lemon curry???
this heat has cooled to minus 270 degrees
Funny, I've always thought going from -272 degrees to -270 degress is called heating.
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/ParticleAndN uclear/neg_temperature.html
Cold is simply a lack of heat, not an actual property. So technicaly, this place is lacking in more heat than any place previously discovered.
This is so cool!
When was the Big Bang theory proven and the guesstimation of 11 billion years determined to be fact?
When Penzias and Wilson detected the microwave background radiation. Despite Fred Hoyle's best efforts, steady state theory could never convincingly explain the properties of the microwave background, which were precisely as Big Bang theory predicted. As for the 11 billion years, notice that the article actually says 'more than 11 billion years' - 11 billion is the lower end of the scale for age estimates.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
It seems JPL released this news on June 20, 1997:
Boomerang Nebula Boasts The Coolest Spot In The Universe
Only the high-res Hubble image of the nebula is the new news.
... and all of a sudden, 1000 Overclockers wonder, "How do I get my Athlon to Centaurus?"
The lowest level of energy ("fundamental" energy level of a quantum system), which we can equate to absolute zero, because there is no allowed state with less energy *does* have energy, including vibrational energy. Atoms *cannot* "cease" to vibrate, because by doing so they would violate Heisenberg's indetermination principle (they would have an exactly determinate position _and_ moment).
:)
I hope someone corrects me if I am wrong
My journal. Mainly about freedom.
Absolute zero is when the movement of atoms stops, and for that to happen it'd have to have no external forces acting on it, which is quite impossible.
:)
I wouldn't be surprised if sometime in the very distant future absolute zero would be possible, but definitly not using any sort of current technology.
The fact is that heat is just the vibration of molecules which is another sort of movement (note that to cool something down you don't have to put something cool next to it - there are many other ways to cool something). To keep something totally still you'll need something to keep the thing still - how can you do that with an atom that measures nanometres wide?
The only way I could think of to do this would be to use strong electromagnetic force to keep the atom aligned or something, but then you're adding more energy to it!
One thing to think about: We can't have a static universe philisophically as without any movement then time would be irrelevant
Because a one that is not cold, is hardly a one at all.
Peace and love, y'all
Did I miss something in my science class?
The temperature of the microwave background radiation is 3K. This means that unless something is shielding an object (or large gas mass) it will be irradiated (heated) to this temperature. And because of the nature of blackbody radiation - the thing doing the shielding would need to be colder than 3K - else it would be a source of 'hot' radiation itself.
And then how do you take a picture of something that is only 1K? This object would emit less radiation than the 3K background - thus it would be a dark spot. It could reflect light - but not all the light is reflected (or is it due to some cool QM effect that I don't know about)? Anyway the absorbed light from other stars would most likely over years - heat the gas mass to a temperature between the 3K background and temperature of the star surface (5000K). Probably something in the neighborhood of 4K.
Conclusion - unless there is some sort of active cooling, nothing can cool down to less than temperature of the background radiation (3K). Is this an early April fools joke - or state schools worthless?
Free Me! (http://www.freeme.org/)
a position in space 14bn light years away is outside the field of view if the big bang - photons would never actually have got there, meaning the temerature will be only slightly above absolute zero (due to Heisnburg's uncertaincy principle of fields).
so actually this isn;t the coldest place in the universe. its just the coldest KNOWN place.
dgr
Chris Gondek writes "The Sydney Morning Herald has an article on how NASA has released a high-quality image of the coldest place found in the universe.
There are colder places on Earth, in labs. Fractions of a degree above zero. It's big competition to see who can get the lowest with the most atoms.
Five thousand light years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, the nebula, a gas cloud formed from a dying star, has a temperature of minus 272 degrees. It is only one degree warmer than absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature,
Absolute zero is a possible temperature eh, news to me.
when atoms cease to vibrate
Not according to Quantum Mechanics!
and radiate no heat whatsoever. This radiation is the remnant of the Big Bang, the explosion which forged the universe in trillion-degree temperatures. More than 11 billion years later, this heat has cooled to minus 270 degrees, but is still detectable."
Let's see how many nontechnical ways we can use the word Heat huh?
...that's not so important anyway, since minus 272.99999C would be just the same as -273C for almost any practical means.
We now know how low IS temperature in some place: -272C . We have to take it simply as is, a new record and a proof to the very possibility to reach such temperatures in nature.
BTW, is there any proof to that "Zero Point Energy can't be removed" theory?
In 1995, American researchers cooled rubidium atoms to less than 170 billionths of a degree above absolute zero.
I know a girl like that....
Get your own free personal location tracker
Besides, who's to say God and evolution cannot coexist? What if that's the method He used?
*nods* which is how I justify the theory behind religion. I think the implementation's all wrong though...
Feel that power? That's mah MOUSING FINGER
Have you considered that people bite your head off because you question theories that you don't understand? And how exactly are you questioning these theories? Simply saying that you don't buy it doesn't count. Are you capable of arguing your claim against the big bang with reason and evidence or do you just "not like" the theory?
Who really cares?
It just seems likely to me that there's someplace out in the black which doesn't even have enough matter for heat to exist. That would be colder.
Are we that desperate for the ultimate cooling method for our computers that we need NASA to find somewhere that freaking cold? ;)
I am seriously sceptical of this result.
How did this gas get to be so cold? How is this Great Fridge in the Sky supposed to work? If there is a cold source, there should also be a heat source nearby, so where is it? Wouldn't the place where this gas is coming from be even colder?
How did this gas get to be moving so fast translationally (that is, from one place to another) while the molecules in it are moving so little vibrationally and rotationally (and are thus cold)?
-MinaCyn, who is too lazy to sign in.
Call your local quantum mechanic. She'll tell you they don't cease to "vibrate": it's called zero point energy.
Does this show that every body in this universe is untimately going to cool down and reach this near-absolute-zero temperature? Is this possible for our solar system? Where does all the enery go in such case?
People who don't read the article (and let's face it, that's most of us, right?), are certain to be confused by the quoted text. The submitter apparently left out this important sentence:
The microwave background radiation is "this radiation" the next sentence refers to.
Apparently 'laws' are more accurate than 'theories'. Well, quite.
Especially God's law.</sarcasm>
He painted a unicorn in outer space. I'm askin' ya, what's it breathin'?
How can you 'justify' religion based on evolution? There is no "theory behind religion". You're mixing up terminology - theory is a scientific term, and a very strict one at that. It's just nonsensical to attempt to use science to 'justify' or 'support' religion. Religion is based on faith, that's what defines it. Once you start having to 'justify' your beliefs, you have lost faith, and most religions (esp. Judeo-Christian ones) would not consider you a member based on your 'lack of faith'. No one gets into heaven (if your religion happens to have one) if they don't have complete faith.
(I'm a strict scientist, but I study theology as a hobby, so I do know a good deal about this sort of thing.)
GL
I've long know about absolute 0. But I just wondered - is there an absolute HIGHEST temperature possible?
Absolute 0 theoretically is the complete cessation of all molecular movement. So is there an upper limit to that molecular movement in terms of heat?
the reaction I get from women is colder.
The shipping cost will be brutal I bet.
I don't really think it's fair to mod a post as flamebait just because it's on a topic that always generates flamewars. Sure, flames will result, but it's not the same as a rude or dogmatic post that doesn't say anything interesting.
:). We understand radioactivity, and potassium-argon dating has shown pockets of gas in rocks to be millions of years old. Last time I looked at this stuff, it sounded good to me, and I'm not going to go research it again this late at night. Sorry for the hand-waving, but there you go.
:). The book is much deeper than the movie. The movie leaves out all the interesting ideas, and leaving just the action, drama, and weird trip. Read the book if you like to think about things.
Some parts of the general public seem to not understand science, and say things like "they told us this, and now they're telling us that, there's no point listening to them". Over-credulous science journalists that seem to be so eager to get the scoop on the next big breakthrough that they make everything sound like said breakthrough, whether there's much evidence for the theories or not, are part of the problem. Maybe it would be good if science stories were more careful about reporting confidence levels in theories. Of course, headlines saying that there's a 51% chance that drinking alcohol is beneficial might not be so exciting. (That's a good thing, IMHO. Every time anyone has anything to say about alcohol, it makes a headline. There seems to be some obsession with wishful thinking about alcohol.)
This cuts both ways, of course. When reading about well established theories with high confidence levels, people would learn which theories are very well-trusted, and which aren't. Some people like to argue "they were wrong about that, so they're probably wrong about this, too". If people knew that most of the incorrect theories were just speculation, and that the one being argued against is very solid, they would not be swayed by bullshit as easily.
Evolution is extremely plausible. If it isn't true, then the most likely alternative is that either the Universe was just created just now, with everything in the state it's currently in. There's no way to distinguish that from time moving normally, so it's really a philosophical point. Otherwise, whatever created the universe and/or the Earth planted fossils to deceive us. Those are both pretty far-fetched compared to mutation and natural selection. The big bang seems to be pretty well established, or at least widely accepted, but not much after that is really settled. Expansion seems to be accelerating, so there's something going on besides strong and weak nuclear, electromagnetic, and gravitational forces combined with the kinds of matter we know about. We don't know about early inflation, or what the heck is going on. The evidence for pre-history on earth is much more solid (literally
As for science, religion, and God, read Calculating God by Robert Sawyer. He writes science fiction novels packed full of ideas. Calculating God is a good one: Aliens land on earth, and it turns out that three worlds where civilization evolved had mass-extinction events (like the one that killed the dinosaurs) at similar times. Therefore, God exists, and sometimes throws hissy fits. The characters sometimes talk about their ideas about God, for example: There's no reason to assume God is omnipotent. Any sort of life form that figured out how to survive a big crunch followed by a big bang, and that could influence the physical constants which have to have just the right values for life to exist in the new universe, would be the creator. A non-omnipotent being seems more plausible. (In fact, there's no reason to assume God is benevolent or that we should worship him/her/it, other than setting up the universe so that life could evolve, but Sawyer doesn't touch on that.)
Contact, by Carl Sagan, is another great one. (Sawyer acknowleges Sagan, and others, in Calculating God
#define X(x,y) x##y
Peter Cordes ; e-mail: X(peter@cordes ,
We share the 21st, but I'm 50 today. Happy birthday and lay off the booze so that you'll make it to my age.
Old geek.
When I BigBang it's also a trillion degrees, but only for a few spurts, then it's back like it was.
If NASA knew my wife, they would know the coldest place in the universe is my bedroom.
As it is worded, the /. article is wrong.
"What is interesting for astronomers is that the nebula is colder than the microwave radiation which pervades all of space."
"This radiation is the remnant of the Big Bang, the explosion which forged the universe in trillion-degree temperatures. More than 11 billion years later, this heat has cooled to minus 270 degrees, but is still detectable."
The microwave radiation is the remnant. NOT the nebula (although technically, every freaking atom in space in a remnant of the Big Bang, so both articles state something silly in the first place).
Smartypants
Actualy it is here on earth in a research lab. In the Netherlands in Leiden. A lab called Kamerlinghonnes. They do research in that field.
A problem cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created it.
-272 degrees Celsius is 1.15 degrees Kelvin and -457.6 degrees Farenheit.
Check out Chad's News
or AT LEAST THE PARENT
fp--
You are absolutely correct. Absolute Zero is based on extrapolated points and can't be reached. The closer you get to absolute zero, gases tend to liquify and quatum mechanics takes over. If it where up to Newton, all our atoms would explode, since their would be no way for the electrons to stay in orbit around the nucleus.
ex-girlfriends don't have souls
This story submission _definitely_ didn't come from Michael or Timothy, nyuh-uh! Nosirree-Bob, ol' CowboyNeal just happened to be browsing some obscure newspaper (or New Scientist!) and spotted this one. Nope -- Michael or Timothy had nothing to do with an Aussie story!
Give us a fsckin BREAK! No actually don't bother -- see my ass dodge the door on the way out. Time to check out Kuro5hin or someplace good.
To host the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!!
I thought that the coldest place was in Boulder Colorado. Didn't they get down to well below .1 degrees kelvin?
It's my desk... Oh, the phone, it keeps ringing... Please help me...
Your average Bose Einstein condensate, made in a lab of your choice, is somewhere between one billionth and one millionth kelvin above absolute zero. So the coldest place in the universe is probably in those labs.
-- Please put this in your sig if you think
Don't get me started on evolution!
Funny wording
Ye gods! And what if they do? Eisenberg is going to sue them? Damn, word your arguments so they don't sound absolutely ridiculous.
Bot Assisted Blogging
See that really fucking obvious part where it says at the start of the article Chris Gondek writes...? Well, thats because a user called Chris Gondek wrote it. Then he clicked a little button, and sent it to Slashdot. Then CowboyNeal approved the submission (Made by Chris Gondek, remember. Keep up now, simpleton), and it was posted to Slashdot.
see my ass dodge the door on the way out. Time to check out Kuro5hin or someplace good.
Yeah, why don't you do that and save us all your half assed whining, you fucking cockhat.
Why do people speak of theories as if they are a proven fact?
This radiation is the remnant of the Big Bang, the explosion which forged the universe in trillion-degree temperatures.
Mr. Gondek sounds awful sure of himself when asserting that the universe was absolutely created by a big explosion. (The stupidest idea evolutionary theory has come up with to date... Must be why its the most believable.) Might I remind you that what you speak of is known as the Big Bang Theory. Not even close to a fact. Nor will it ever be.
I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Fine, the motion of atoms is almost non-existent, but doesn't the vaccum provide a perfect insulator?
If you're outside (forget pressure diff) with nothing but your skin, shouldn't you feel rather comfortable? (since you can't be loosing heat since there is no particle motion outside you to take away your heat... AND you're practically in a vaccum so not many particles in the first place.
I'll say God and evolution cannot coexist because man was clearly created before God, since animals don't have the consciousness necessary to create imaginary masters.
Stupid lame-o idiot. Get a life.
sorry if it comes as a "flamebait", but why should a perfect-by-definition, omnipotent, omniscient, an omnipresent entity use by design imperfect tools, to make imperfect entity, not very much "potent", not much sense, and limited temporal/physical presence ? Oh , yeah, I forgot. "the way of God are obscure".
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Five thousand years old, to be precise.
Have you checked with a sheep about that?
Remember that EMR travels both as waves and particles, just NOT electrons, neutrons and protons. So while there is very little in EMR there is still some mass to EMR.
Light is just microwave radiation we can see and has been proved to be distorted by gravity.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Could not be the coldest place in the universe where there is no matter at all? far away from any galaxy atom density should be very low... taking a cube with no atoms big enough you can say perfectly that is the coldest place, maybe it could count as a perfect 0 kelvin degree.
I always thought that was republican headquarters.
This image (and a much better description) were the APOD on the 20th. The image is from 1998.
Apod.
I think Slashdot should have a box on the right with the APOD (astronomy picture of the day.) Of course, then it might get slashdotted... maybe someone nice could setup a mirror.
M@
Krispy Cream is people
If the entire universe will enventually reach this state .... does this mean hell is finally going to freeze over?
That would have been pretty funny if your login name was Hobbs.
Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
"It's friggin' cold in here Mr. Bigglesworth"
a gas cloud formed from a dying star, has a temperature of minus 272 degrees. No units, -4 ponts.
When was the Big Bang theory proven and the guesstimation of 11 billion years determined to be fact?
What would you approve as a "proof" of the Big Bang "theory" anyway? There are no observations that contradict the theory, even though scientists have been looking for them for nearly a century. How much longer do they have to keep looking until you accept it as a fact?
Anyway, the figure 11 billion years is infact not quite correct - as reported recently on Slashdot, the WMAP satellite has measured the age of the universe to be 13.7 billion years +/- 1%.
By definition, a theory must be testable and falsifiable. Religion/faith fall outside these limits, and therefore cannot be called theories. Your reference to "a theory behind religion" would be more correctly stated if you substitude the informal 'idea' in place of the very specific and limited 'theory'.
"it is the direct outcome of socio-economic situations."
Religion had nothing to do with money or social status in its earliest days. Most early religions were centered around explaining things which were otherwise inexplicable. Most early deities were related to the harvest (which lacked any social or economic significance), typically in the form of the sun or rain.
"theory behind religion "
This wording would indicate that the religion came from a theory, which obviously is not the case. No one plotted out early religions, they just sort of fell together.
"Religion is based on a set of actions which are believed to constitute faith. That some people have faith is in itself besides the point."
To quote the American Heritage Dictionary, religious faith is defined as "The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will." Religion is "Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe." or "A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship." There is "no set of actions" neccessitated. Religion is typically a personal thing, though rituals and actions are sometimes considered consistant or contrary to those beliefs.
"justification of a faith need not necessiate the lack of any"
Be careful with that one. Many religions (esp. more conservative or fundamental ones) would not agree with you. Classic Christian myths like the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table are excellent examples of this.
When I said heaven, I was still referring to Judeo-Christian religions.
Anyway, don't want to get into a big debate here on Slashdot, so I hope you don't take any of this personally or as an attack on religion. It just happens that this is my area of expertise (well, after cognitive psychology, at least).
GL
It's the result of the "Big Bang" eh? Remind me when that became Science Fact rather than Science Speculation. Funny how people think that repeating things over and over make them fact. Sheesh.
Absolute Zero is not the lowest possible temperature, nor is it the lower bound of the range of possible temperatures. It is actually possible to attain temperatures BELOW absolute zero, as any student of statistical thermodynamics will know.
Some have been disussing a way to reach absolute zero. While I am not a physics major, I do love reading Hawking, Barbour, et. al. It's very mind expanding. I've ultimately decided you can not reach absolute zero wihtout cirumventing the laws of the universe and the means that we observe them... as we know it.
...
Okay, so I got thinking... if the space you're measuring was contained by a magnetic field and contained nothing, could it reach absolute zero? Theoretically I would think so. But there's 2 problems with this, right?
The first is simply the observation of "nothing." If I'm not mistaken, you can not measure or observe "nothing" because if it could be observed in any way, it would be "something". Even if you could somehow detect the abscense of "something" you'd be effecting "nothing" and making it into "something." Correct?
The second would be how do we define "nothing?" If I am to define it as something that does not contain matter in any form, then how do I contain it? Is it a matter of containment, or a matter of exclusion? If I am to exclude "something", philosphically this is far different from containing "nothing."
Anyway, I've got a headache now and it's 10 AM EST. Thank you slashdot for another wonderful morning
"Politicians find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the people."
"Man has produced yet chillier temperatures. In 1995, American researchers cooled rubidium atoms to less than 170 billionths of a degree above absolute zero."
We're so cool!
Love,
Mom
Besides, who's to say God and evolution cannot coexist? What if that's the method He used?
It can't be done in six days.
Lisp is the Tengwar of programming languages.
* if defined as Molecular motion then a volume of H gas has no heat?! or a volume of H / He gas without electrons has no heat, think sun. then again, this heat would be radiative, not vibrational. again, i think i get it now.
In the words of some dumb character in some dumb-ass romantic comedy (regarding vegas) "Why didn't they just build this city on the SUN"
That theory was disproved long ago.
Anonymous Cowards suck.
It's closer to 13.7 billion years, based on MAP's recent discoveries
Some time ago I saw a sports drink that claimed that it's amazing restorative powers were due to the fact that the drink "harnessed the awesome power of zero point energy". No kidding. I guess the ability to cure thirst has nothing to do with hydration and everything to do with halting all motion.
:-)
Crap like this kind of reminds me of The Matrix, where Morpheus explains how the devious robots are powered by humans. Oh, and that little "form of fusion" that he alludes to, too.
Ice makes things colder, right? That's what we all use it for! So, take an ice cube, then place another ice cube on top of it. Wait. The ice cubes will make each other colder, infinitely. THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE ZERO!
Really, champ? "My bosses office" makes absolutely 100% zero sense. Correct choices would have been:
"My boss's office"
OR
"My bosses' office" if your multiple bosses happened to share one office.
With these grammatical skills, it's no wonder you're last in line for raises. Those University writing classes were required for a reason.
That depends on how long you think a Day is... Here's a hint: God's "days" are a heck of a lot longer than 24 hours.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
I never thought place colder than Fargo could exist outside of purgatory, but I'll be damned if they didn't find it.
For those who are interested, the "high" quality image of the nebula can be found here at the Astronomy Picture of the Day for Tues. 2/20/03.
Click on the image and you'll get the enlarged verson.
Sorry, but negative temperatures are ABOVE absolute zero (and above all positive temperatures) in the temperature scale. +infinity and -infinity are the same temperature, but -0 and +0 are not the same temperature.
. -1 00K..-0
from cold to hot:
0K...100K..1000K..+infinity/-infinity..-1000K..
How can we be sure? A negative temperature system will transfer heat energy to a postive temperature system when the two systems are in thermal contact. Heat flows from hot objects to cold objects, so negative temperatures are hotter.
To summarize the link you provided, negative temperatures only can be realized in systems which have an upper bound to their energy. In practice, this means that one is looking at a restricted set of degrees of freedom of a larger system as a system in isolation from the larger system. For instance, consider just the spins of atoms or nuclei, as separate from the spins+kinetic energy of the atoms or nuclei. As the spins of nuclei are often weakly coupled to the kinetic energy (i.e. collisions or atomic vibrations do not easily flip nuclear spins), this is a good approximation. In reality, if you put the spins into a negative temperature state, the energy of the spins will eventually dissipate, cooling the spins, while slightly increasing the kinetic energy in the system.
(The mathematical reason for this is that temperature is actually the reciprocal of a microscopically meaningful property.)
when atoms cease to vibrate and radiate no heat whatsoever
This is somewhat incorrect. According to the kinetic theory of gases, and more specifically the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics, absolute zero is the temperature at which the mass of atoms go to zero. From E_k = (1/2)mv^2, and with kinetic theory of gases stating that motion is random (in fact it must be in order to have our everyday ideal gases treated as such), then v can not equal zero, so m must. Really this is just how we choose to look at absolute zero from our warmer world, things begin to change at that low temperature.
So the coldest place in the universe is only 5000 light years away? That's just around the corner in our sector of the galactic disk. The rest of the universe extends 10 to 20 billion light years in all other directions, so how do they know THIS particular place is the coldest in the universe? They couldn't have measured the temperature everywhere else... and it's likely there is some other nebula, somewhere, that is slightly colder.
The article summary is made of sentences quoted exactly from the article, strung together as if they were logically connected, even though they're from different paragraphs talking about different things.
I have to conclude that this submission came from Microsoft Word's "AutoSummarize".
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
>"More than 11 billion years later, this heat has cooled to minus 270 degrees, but is still detectable."
:)4
;)
13.7 to be 99% exact
http://nyteknik.se/pub/ipsart.asp?art_id=2652
swedish text there, sorry for that. But better then nothing
Hey! That's my sig you're smoking there!
And to those of you that complain that /. is too U.S.-centric, I point out that the temperature references in the posting header are centigrade, not farenheit.
/. isn't U.S.-centric, of course. ;)
I'm not saying
I'm just pointing out that they aren't always.
And yes, I realize the article came from Australia.
Of course, they really should have said which scale (centigrade/farenheit/kelvin/etc) they are using in the submission itself, for those that don't know the numbers off the top of their head, but we'll take what we can get, I suppose.
for reference -
Absolute Zero temperatures:
Farenheit: -459.67
Centigrade: -273.15
Kelvin: 0
I read 8^) as "Eight to the power of parenthesis"
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Oh yeah! And they found a fossil at the north pole that fell off of Mars... I guess I'll have to take their word on it. :-)
*************************************************
What a crock of shit, totally assuing the big bang actually happend....
They haven't met my ex-girlfriend yet.
More than 11 billion years later, this heat has cooled to minus 270 degrees, but is still detectable."
After only 2 of dating years I think she'd made it well past absolute zero.....
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Application of classical statistics (Boltzmann) to highly quantized systems. Fermi-Dirac statistics don't yield negative temperatures. See ch. 22 in Hill's "An introduction to Statistical Thermodynamics" (Dover).
The coldest place is my ex-wife's bed! Ha ha ha. Bitch
would time be slowed down over there?
For The Best Jazz/Hip-hop fusion > COlD DUCK
You don't propose that we're *supposed* to believe that it came from *nothing*, are you?
Because of related research, the universe is now known to be 13.7 billion years old (to within 1%). That's a whole lot more accurate that what the estimate was a few months ago.
The temprature is from where the radiation source.
When the universe began with the Big Bang, there was a bunch of radiation left over. As the universe expanded, the wavelength of that radiation got longer, becoming microwave frequency over time. If you point a microwave detector at the sky, there is this microwave radiation from any direction you look. Using formulas I don't remember, the energy of this radiation has a certain temprature, XX Kelvins. This cloud has a measured temprature (same formula) that is lower.
Sort of like the Jolt cola being the only frozen thing in the ice box.
For more information ( and formulas) try http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030220.html
As many pointed out, internal energy of the quantum system can't be less then some zero-level > 0. On the other hand, temperature is statistical property and if we extend it to non-equilibrium systems, it is possible to have inverse population of energy levels, which resilts in negative velue for temperature. (gas lasers) p ~ exp(-e/kT)
The coldest place in the universe is in 2001 Nobel Prize winner Carl Weinman's Lab in Boulder, Colorado. Temperatures as low as 3nK (3 billionths of a Kelvin) have been achieved.
How cold is it with WIND CHILL factored in?
Eat at Joe's.
50 Fahrenheit (10 C). Californians shiver uncontrollably. Canadians plant gardens.
35 Fahrenheit (1.6 C). Italian Cars won't start. Canadians drive with the windows down
32 Fahrenheit (0 C). American water freezes. Canadian water gets thicker.
0 Fahrenheit (-17.9 C). New York City landlords finally turn on the heat. Canadians have the last cookout of the season.
-60 Fahrenheit (-51 C). Mt.St. Helens freezes. Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.
-100 Fahrenheit (-73 C). Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Canadians pull down their ear flaps.
-173 Fahrenheit (-114 C). Ethyl alcohol Freezes. Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the keg.
-460 Fahrenheit (-273 C). Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops. Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"
-500 Fahrenheit (-295 C). Hell freezes over. Canadians are annoyed because their Saabs take a second try to start.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
Nope... the coldest place in the universe occurs when you get Aaron & Helene together.
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
It shocks me to find so many anti-big-bang postings after this story. And not constructive criticisms, but rather religious-sounding trolls.
I feel like I just showed up at a meeting of the Flat Earther's society. One of you even offered: "Don't even get me started on evolution."
This is not what I have come to expect from Slashdotters in general. We argue intelligently (for the most part) about topics such as which operating system eats the most dick, and then people decide that evolution is something that shouldn't even be taken seriously.
Yes, these things are theories, but when I see Slashdotters giving empty objections to theories for the sake of them being theories, I get sick to my stomach.
Ok, back to work.
~D
Does anyone know how much it would cost to colo my entire server farm there? i mean the lag would be terrible, but think of the overclocking possibilities, not to mention i think it would be exempt from property taxes.
Surely intergalactic space (in the voids of those "bubble" structures) would be much colder. There's radiation everywhere in space, getting the temperature down is just a question of minimizing it.
Nope... the coldest place in the universe occurs when you get Aaron & Helene together.
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
The gas cloud in question is only 5k l-y away, which is a drop in the bucket when you consider the galaxy alone is 100k l-y in diameter or so. I think that declaring this to be the coldest thing in the universe is just a wee bit premature.
What the...
> Mr. Gondek sounds awful sure of himself when
> asserting that the universe was absolutely
> created by a big explosion. (The stupidest idea
> evolutionary theory has come up with to date...
> Must be why its the most believable.)
What are you talking about? The theory of evolution did -not- come up with the "idea" of the universe being created in a big explosion.
Geez, I see why you don't agree with scientific theories, if you are that confused.
The coldest temperature in the universe that hasn't been created artificially is 2.73 kelvin. Ever hear of cosmic background radiation? Yeah. So someone misstated something.
Moderators, the parent post is NOT a troll. Please fix by modding as funny.
Thanks,
CD
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
Isn't lowest temp possible based on our current knowledge of existing elements? So if there are many more elements in the universe which we have not discovered yet, then there could be others with a lower min temp than 0 degrees Kelvin.
But soon to be declared "coldest place in the universe" isn't it?
I have often wondered what would happen if an atom was cooled to absolute zero...
You have a positively charged nucleus (Protons and Neutrons), and you have negatively charged electrons in orbit.
If you slow the electrons down too much, wouldn't their orbits decay? At what point would the orbit decay enough that the proton - electron attraction would drag the electron down until it collided with the nucleus?
What happens when a proton and an electron touch?
Wouldn't the charges stabilize? If that happened, wouldn't the atoms disintegrate?
I wouldn't want to have to clean that up...
This supersedes the previously known coldest places, the deep freezer, which was preceded by the refrigerator.
The coldest place in the universe is my ex-lovers hearts...