As there is an absolute zero (right?) is there an absolute...um, maximum temperature?

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Delirious

Delirious

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Metroider17
I am just curious as there is the "absolute zero" that it is said that, that is as cold as it could ever possibly be...right?

Anyhow, is there a maximum hot temperature that can be reached? What is the hottest...something can be?

Simple question, complicated or another simple answer?
 
E=mc^2? I guess as hot as matter can get until it turns into energy.
 
Well, saying “hot vs. cold” isn’t very useful for this discussion. Absolute zero means that a particle has zero energy (which is only a theoretical point, by the way, since we can’t create a closed universe). I think it’s fair to assume that in our particular universe, the greatest concentration of energy would be right during the Big Bang. We don’t know what the energy was at t=0, but we do know that after one Planck time, the temperature was 1.417 × 10^32 K. So, one could hypothesize that the absolute highest temperature possible in our particular universe would be 1.417 × 10^32 K or something close to it.
 
Okay, lets define temperature first.

It is the measure of how much kinetic energy particles have. So, knowing that, absolute Zero is when the particles are no longer moving, so you can't go to where particles have negative movement.

Makes sense, right?

So, in theory, since particles can move up to the speed of light, then well, they can't move much faster.

In practice, they move till the energy from the motion overcomes the bonds between then, and thus you have solid to liquid and then liquid to gas. If you attempt to force them by keeping a system under pressure, you'll end up with plasma.

So, the answer is somewhat complex, because eventually the energy of the motion will push the particles apart to the point that the original sample cannot be measures, and thus the energy and temperature of the system would change.
 
Sage
Well, saying “hot vs. cold” isn’t very useful for this discussion. Absolute zero means that a particle has zero energy (which is only a theoretical point, by the way, since we can’t create a closed universe). I think it’s fair to assume that in our particular universe, the greatest concentration of energy would be right during the Big Bang. We don’t know what the energy was at t=0, but we do know that after one Planck time, the temperature was 1.417 × 10^32 K. So, one could hypothesize that the absolute highest temperature possible in our particular universe would be 1.417 × 10^32 K or something close to it.
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This is perfectly correct.
 
Famine
This is perfectly correct.
Click to expand...

But it is also a hypothesis. And under conditions we exactly can't recreate. The logic is sound, but I think the question was referring to the current universe, not the pre Big Bang universe, as needless to say, we still are fairly confused on that bit.

Though, I am probably too tipsy and a bit behind on the news to debate this much, or even comment more than my mildly confusing post was. But stop stealing my science brain power thunder, you indigo font using superior AI construct thinger.

Thats right, I just told you!
 
Under the second law of Thermodynamics, in a closed system things move towards a state of entropy - that is, all matter becomes energy and all energy becomes heat energy, evenly spread throughout the universe.

The total of mass-energy (the amount of energy + the amount of energy locked up in matter) in the universe is 4 x 10^69 Joules. Boltzmann's Constant (k) is used to calculate the temperature of anything we know the energy of (or vice versa) and is 1.38 x 10^-23.

Multiply the two and we get 5.52 x 10^46 K as an absolute maximum temperature for any point in the universe if all of the energy were gathered into one spot (so long as all the other points are at absolute zero).
 
But the Universe isn't a closed system, right, Famine? Because, if it is, I say we send Al Gore out into the Universe to convince it to stop using so much damn energy. :lol:

Thanks, though. I'm sure Delirious learned something really cool with this thread, because I sure did.
 
It's about as closed a system as you're likely to get.
 
Famine
It's about as closed a system as you're likely to get.
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Oh, okay. Sage confused me when he said that we can't create a closed universe. I guess I first read that as an implication of our Universe being open. Astrophysics = not my thing; sorry. :crazy:
 
Famine
It's about as closed a system as you're likely to get.
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True. And the reason why this works Omnis is because if you considering everything there can not be anything outside of it. Make sense?

All right, now that you explain it like that, yes I can see the reasoning more. But, somewhat by this logic, wouldn't Blackholes be the hottest points in the universe? As they have vastly more mass per volume (as they are singularities) than any anything object (except maybe quasars, but those are just really massive blackholes), but I imagine this assumption would depend on if you are measuring from beyond or within the event horizon, et cetera.

Astrophysics, and theoretical physics, are confusing sometimes :dunce:
 
Black holes are hot. Very hot. So hot that they spew X- and gamma rays.
 
Famine
Black holes are hot. Very hot. So hot that they spew X- and gamma rays.
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Well, yes. But you wouldn't know that they were hot really from traditional measurements because of the event horizon. You'd just be infertile from the x-rays. :sly:

I guess at this point I am asking more of rhetorical questions than anything, because I am tired :p And its educating the viewers.

Now, I do have a question for you, since you tend to have more encyclopedic knowledge that I do. Whats the hottest temperature we can produce on Earth? I'm gonna put it being either in attempts of Fusion or particle accelerators/colliders.
 
Threads like this are very interesting, though they tend to give me a headache :-)

👍 + Milk and cookies for all involved !...
 
Moved to Ask GTPlanet! forum. That is correct Sage and Famine - you've been outmodded! :D
 
1.417 × 10^32 K...can I get that in a full Fahrenheit (without the ^) reading, so I can really grasp that?
 
It’s 255,060,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 °F.
 
Famine
Multiply the two and we get 5.52 x 10^46 K as an absolute maximum temperature for any point in the universe if all of the energy were gathered into one spot (so long as all the other points are at absolute zero).
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But, since we're talking theoretically, that only holds true for our universe. In another universe, it may be higher. Though in another universe, our laws of physics may not hold. That, I would like to see :D.
 

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