If the absolute minimum temperature is zero degrees K, what is the absolute maximum temperature?

Question

I am assuming that temperature is related to the speed of the particles and that the speed of the particles are limited to the speed of light.

Answer 1

First of all, yes 0 degrees Kelvin IS the minimum temperature. If any of you know how to achieve a temperature less than that, there's a Nobel prize waiting for you.

Second, while particles are limited by the speed of light, that in itself does not limit the amount of kinetic energy each particle can have. Recall from relativity that the closer to the speed of light you get, the more energy you need to add to get just a little bit faster. You can never quite reach the speed of light because to do so would require an infinite amount of energy. So even though a particle's speed is limited by relativity, its kinetic energy is not.

Where a particle's kinetic energy (and hence its temperature) ARE limited is at the Planck scale. This is the scale--smallest distance, shortest time, hottest temperature, etc.--which runs up against the wall of quantum mechanics. Anything beyond this scale is moot even to discuss. The Planck temperature is about 1.4 x 10^32 Kelvin.

Wikipedia has some pretty good links on this, click on them below to read more about it.

Answer 2

the absolute minimum temperature is not absolute zero because the molecules of a substance do posses some energy according to quantum theory called zero-point energy. therefore as there is no absolute minimum tempoerature there cannot possibly be a absolute maximum temperature. also the particles can move no faster than the speed of light so there is a limit on the amount of energy a body of fixed mass can posses but the temperature depends on the specific heat capacity so there is no limit to the temperature but there is one to energy of a fixed mass

Answer 3

No maximum. Absolute zero is just the absence of all movement, but there can always be more movement, and, therefore, more heat. I'm sure there some limit at which elementary particles cannot be accelerated beyond--i.e., approaching the speed of light, but I'm not aware of any theory about what that temperature might be.

Answer 4

none
Absolute temperature (Kelvin) measure the average speed of particles
absolute minimum temperature is the state where there is no movements of particle. however, particle can move with no maximum speed limit so there are no absolut maximum

Answer 5

Short answer, pretty freakin' hot. Long answer, our current best-guess is the Planck temperature, or 1.41679 ÃÆ’â€" 10^32 Kelvins. This translates to about a quarter of a hundred nonillion degrees Fahrenheit (2.5 x 10^32). However, it is common knowledge that our current theories of physics are incomplete, thus leaving open the possibility of still higher temperatures.

Answer 6

There is no maximum possible and no minimum...0 degrees K is just a point of view(-273 degrees C).If 0 degrees K is the minimum that doesn't mean there aren't temperatures lower than that.

Answer 7

There is no absolute maximum. The minimum temperature is when there is zero energy in the molecules. You can put as much energy into a molecule as you want.

Answer 8

In effect a system can't absorbe energy indefinitely, but at the moment we don't know the exact numerical value.

Answer 9

Never heard of one...

Answer 10

There is none.