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Is There Such a Thing As Absolute Hot?

Posted by timothy on from the she-does-exist-yes dept.

AlpineR writes "Is there an opposite to absolute zero? An article from PBS's NOVA online explains several theories of the maximum possible temperature. Maybe it's the Planck temperature, 10^32 K, beyond which the known laws of physics break down. Or maybe just 10^30 K, the limit of some versions of string theory. If space is actually 11-dimensional then the maximum temperature could even be as low as 10^17 K, attainable by the Large Hadron Collider. Or maybe infinite temperature wraps around to negative temperature and absolute hot is the same as absolute cold."

4 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Integer overflows by TehZorroness · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I remember I went through this problem when I was new. Ahh, that brings back memories.

  2. Re:Integer overflows by SineWave · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I thought it used SlashCode... ;-P

  3. Re:Could be... by AxelBoldt · · Score: 0, Redundant

    wouldn't the top temperature be a particle vibrating back and forth at the speed of light?

    Yes, but according to the formulas of special relativity, if an object with positive mass reaches the speed of light, its kinetic energy becomes infinite. The old formula E=1/2 m v^2 for the kinetic energy is not valid anymore when v gets close to the speed of light.

  4. Re:Could be... by AxelBoldt · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Wouldn't the highest temperature be when the particles of the substance are moving at the speed of light?

    Yes, but according to the formulas of special relativity, if an object with positive mass reaches the speed of light, its kinetic energy becomes infinite. The old formula E=1/2 m v^2 for the kinetic energy is not valid anymore when v gets close to the speed of light.