Why is it not possibly to go below zero kelvin (-273.15 deg Celsius)?

Question

There must be a precise answer.......

Answer 1

This is the temperature at which atoms have stopped moving. Temperature is a function of the movement of atoms and molecules, and a higher speed means higher temperature. At absolute zero (0 K), there is no movement, so it is the coldest possible temperature. It's not possible to have less movement than no movement, therefore the temperature cannot go below zero kelvin.

Answer 2

0 Kelvin is "absolute zero" the point at which all atomic motion ceases. This means all electrons are in the lowest possible energy state and there is no measurable kinetic energy. Since Temperature is a measure of atomic or molecular kinetic energy it is not possible to go negative on this scale.


Absolute Zero
At absolute zero, does atomic motion cease as well as molecular motion? In other words, would there be a theoretical point at which subatomic particles also cease to have kinetic energy?
No, absolute zero (0 Kelvin) is defined as where all molecular motion stops. The electrons still orbit the nucleus, the nucleons still spin, etc.

Dr. Eric Christian

Is there a law that prevents the attainment of absolute zero? Or is it that humans don't have the technology to reach it?

In order to reach a temperature of absolute zero, a "heat engine" would have to be built that is 100% efficient. This is not possible. We will never build such a device.

Dr. Louis Barbier


_____________________________-


Q. What Is Absolute Zero?
From Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.,
Your Guide to Chemistry.
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A. Absolute zero is the point where no more heat can be removed from a system, according to the absolute or thermodynamic temperature scale. This corresponds to 0 K or -273.15°C. In classical kinetic theory, there should be no movement of individual molecules at absolute zero, but experimental evidences shows this isn't the case.
Temperature is used to describe how hot or cold an object it. The temperature of an object depends on how fast its atoms and molecules oscillate. At absolute zero, these oscillations are the slowest they can possibly be. Even at absolute zero, the motion doesn't completely stop.

It's not possible to reach absolute zero, though scientists have approached it. The NIST achieved a record cold temperature of 700 nK (billionths of a Kelvin) in 1994. MIT researchers set a new record of 0.45 nK in 2003.

Answer 3

Here is the reason:

While it is hypothetically possible to go to zero degrees Kelvin, in practice it is an impossibility. The meaning of "absolute zero" (zero degrees kelvin) means that it is the point where there is absolutely and completely no molecule movement whatsoever.

Heat is determined by the movement of molecules- the faster they are moving, the hotter a substance will be, the slower, the colder. So once you reach absolute zero, you reach the absolute slowest the molecules can possibly go, that is, no movement at all, and thus it is impossible for it to be any colder. (You can't have "negative movement"!)

Hope that helps- Wikipedia has a good article on it, too.

Answer 4

When a mass has reached a temperature of zero k,we have a frozen atom.
The atoms in a absolute frozen state still exist as a structure, but in a very close proximity in a material. Each atom cannot get packet closer. In any closer proximity they would experience an electrostatic gravitational repulsion. That is one of the phenomenon which limits the zero k temperature to go below the absolute temperature energy content.
To explain what happens to atomic structure which includes electron,protons etc.. requires a relativistic analysis which is beyond the scope of this question.

Answer 5

Because Kelvin in terms of temperature is based on absolute zero which is a theory that at that temperature, all life will reach zero-point energy (the lowest possible level of energy attainable in any quantum mechanical physical system). Although I believe that somewhere in the universe, going below 0K is possible, it would be pointless to study (or even theorize) below 0K because at that point, everything would be theoretically frozen and nothing else would happen. That's the best answer I can give, sorry it's all theory.

Answer 6

Concur with EastlB, Vinay, and Enceladus. The Kelvin scale is a measure of the kinetic energy in atoms and molecules. It's not possible to have negative kinetic energy, therefore there is no minus temperature on the Kelvin scale.

Answer 7

0 Kelvin equates to 0 energy. If we knew how to draw
more energy then we could reduce the temperature.
In fact, who is to say whether we might discover a way
to draw more energy from mass and effectively decrease
the 0 energy temperature. In other words, using current
technology we have evaluated that matter at 0 Kelvin
has no energy, but in the future we might find evidence
using new devices which proves that more energy
does exist within the matter.

Answer 8

Because scientist invented the Kelvin/Celsius scale because they would wonder why people could survive in below 0 degree Fahrenheit weather that's not possible if its 0 degrees you should be dead so they invented a scale that is correct in a scientific manner that's why it is not possible it is the ultimate freezing point

got it from a science teacher

Answer 9

So there is a common misunderstanding here. Motion does not stop at absolute zero, random kinetic motion does. The idea is basically this electrons in a sample have a group speed and a thermal kinetic speed around that group speed. At absolute zero, there would be no random kinetic motion. However there would still be motion.

Answer 10

It's actually being able to measure the temperature once at absolute zero that makes it difficult.

Absolute zero means no motion, therefore there isn't an energy difference between the thermometer and the actual environment to be measured.