Can someone explain infinite temperature?

Question

Ok so I was in BJ'S reading the world record book and it said the highest temperature is believed to be infinite..which was the temperature during the big bang theory....So somehow the idea of infinite temperature does not seem like a logical concept. Or I just can't think logically....So can someone please break it down in a way which I can understand???????? thanksss

Answer 1

There is a special case in chemistry. Temperatures can sometimes be described based on the population of electrons in various orbitals because the population is governed by a formula involving temperature. If it happens that you have NO electrons in the low orbitals and all of the electrons are in higher orbitals, technically that represents a negative temperature on the KELVIN scale. If at some point one of the electrons decays to a lower orbital by photon emission, it is possible to reach a state that only makes sense if the temperature at that exact moment is one of the many forms of infinity.

By extension, I would imagine that other temperature based distributions can exhibit configurations that require you to have an infinity somewher.

Don't forget, however, that there are flavors of inifinity. The one you need for this "infinite" temperature is the one that means "achieved by an undefined operation." I.e. division by zero produces an infinity of the "undefined" sort. This is not the same as the "increases without limit" kind of infinity that is the answer to "how many numbers can exist?"

During the big bang, I'd bet dollars to donuts that there were moments when a "distributional" or "configurational" infinity existed before the atoms and molecules started to emit photons to decay off their excess energy.

In a logical sense, you are quite right. Infinite temperature - when you think of infinity as an actual number - makes no sense at all. But if you think of temperatture as a byproduct of some physical distribution and somehow invert the distribution - that is a reachable type of infinity. Just Mother Nature's way of saying "You really shouldn't be in this state."

Answer 2

Actually, the highest temperature that we can understand is called the "Planck Temperature", which is about 1.4x10^32 degrees Kelvin
(255 followed by 30 zeroes, degrees F)
the temperature that the Universe would have been at (according to the Big Bang theory) at an "age" of
5.4x10^-44 sec.
The 5 is in the 44th position after the decimal point:
0.00000000...(30 zeroes here)...0000054 sec.

Before that time (or at higher temperatures), our understanding of physics cannot work. All we can say is that as you get closer to the start (time = 0), the temperature is boundless -- whatever number you can think of, we can get closer to time zero and reach a higher temperature. But we do not know what that means.

When the universe "cooled down" to the Planck temperature, the force of Gravity separated from the energy (whatever it was).

In popular terms, the difference between infinite and boundless is, admittedly, very subtle. However, boundless is better because we do not understand what the word "temperature" means when it gets hotter than the Planck temperature.

Answer 3

Temperature is, scientifically, a measure of how fast atoms and molecules are moving. The more excited they are, the higher the temperature. Therefore, infinite temperature is impossible because they cant be moving at infinite speed.

The temperature at the "moment" of the Big Bang may be described as infinite, but only for an infinitesimally short time! The Big Bang was not literally an explosion, so it's difficult to explain using logical concepts.

Maybe if you can't think logically, you're in a perfect position then to understand the Big Bang. So go on then, explain it to us . . . : )

Answer 4

Any infinite physical quantity doesn't really make sense. I have a feeling that there are new physical principles we don't know of that came into play in the early universe that may remove the idea that there was a start from a point of infinite density.

When a theory spits out an infinity there's a good chance it's pointing out something missing from the theory. At any rate is something to keep investigating.

Answer 5

thats because infinity is an impossible concept for humans or any organism to imagine. that the temperature was infinite because there was no volume. a finite amount of energy (massive but still finite) in an object with 0 volume means infinite temperature.

Answer 6

There weren't any atoms at that factor (aka 0 time). It replaced into purely organic capability compressed in infinitely small factor. it fairly is no longer common to comprehend, purely because it fairly is no longer common to comprehend that there replaced into no "earlier" the great Bang. It replaced right into a factor of beginning.